色彩斑斓 (sè cǎi bān lán) — richly colored, colorful, variegated

Definition

An idiomatic written expression meaning 'richly colorful, variegated' — mostly used to describe scenery, art, or nature (not people). Pairs with 美丽, 令人惊叹.

verb
richly coloredcolorfulvariegated

Examples

  • 色彩斑斓，。
    Qiū tiān de sēn lín sè cǎi bān lán, měi lì jí le.
    The autumn forest is richly colored and extremely beautiful.
  • 色彩斑斓。
    Zhè fú huà de sè cǎi bān lán lìng rén jīng tàn.
    The rich colors of this painting are amazing.
  • ，色彩斑斓。
    Huā yuán lǐ bǎi huā shèng kāi, sè cǎi bān lán.
    In the garden, a hundred flowers bloom in rich colors.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

色彩colors
色sècolor彩cǎicolor
联合Side by side
斑斓variegated
斑bānspot斓lánvariegated
联合Side by side

色彩 means colors and 斑斓 means variegated, describing richly colored patterns.

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.

Open 色 →

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
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.

Open 彩 →

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
文文wénpattern
Sound part声符shēngfú
班
班bān斑bān
Same sound today

斑 uses 文 to show a pattern and 班 to give its sound.

Open 斑 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 斕; 斓 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
文文wén
Sound part声符shēngfú
闌
闌lán斕
Same sound today

The traditional form 斕 is built from 文 and 闌, with 闌 giving the sound. The simplified 斓 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not the historical sound part.

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