流行色 (liú xíng sè) — fashion color, trend color (the dominant or promoted color for a season or year)

Definition

A compound noun meaning the color that designers and brands promote as the 'it' color for a given season or year. Pairs naturally with 颜色 (颜色是流行色) and with seasons/years (今年的流行色).

noun
fashion colortrend color (the dominant or promoted color for a season or year)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 流行色。
    Jīn nián chūn tiān de liú xíng sè shì dàn fěn sè.
    This spring's trend color is light pink.
  • 流行色。
    Shè jì shī gēn jù liú xíng sè lái shè jì xīn chǎn pǐn.
    Designers create new products based on the fashion color.
  • 流行色？
    Nǐ xuǎn de zhè ge yán sè shì jīn nián de liú xíng sè ma?
    Is the color you chose this year's trend color?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

流行fashionable
流liúflow行xínggo
联合Side by side
色sècolor

流行 (fashionable) describes 色 (color), the color promoted in a season.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐬
㐬㐬流liú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Open 流 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 彳彳chì
  • 亍亍chù

The shape of 行 originally showed a street intersection, even on both sides. Later it became uneven, with 彳 on the left and 亍 on the right.

Open 行 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 爪爪zhuǎclaw; hand
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

色 pairs 爪 (a hand) with 卩 (a kneeling person), showing a hand pressing down on the kneeling person.

Open 色 →

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