色彩 (sè cǎi) — color, coloring; (fig.) flavor, character | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

色彩 emphasizes the overall color scheme or character/flavor of something, often in a literary or figurative sense — more formal than 颜色 ('color' in general). The figurative sense ('flavor, character') is unique to 色彩 and not shared with 颜色.

noun

colorcoloring(fig.) flavorcharacter

Examples

色彩。
Zhè fú huà de sè cǎi hěn míng liàng.
The colors of this painting are very bright.
色彩。
Tā de yǎn jiǎng dài yǒu zhèng zhì sè cǎi.
His speech has a political flavor.
色彩。
Zhè ge jié rì chōng mǎn le chuán tǒng sè cǎi.
This festival is full of traditional character.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

色 and 彩 both mean color, so together they refer to coloring or a visual character.

Characters in this word

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.

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

采彡彩

Meaning part形符xíngfú

彡彡shān

Sound part声符shēngfú

采

采cǎi彩cǎi

Same sound today

彩 puts 采, which gives the sound, next to 彡, the three-stroke mark that carries the meaning.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Colors

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