Colors in Chinese: the names and what they mean

October 3, 2026 · 4 min read

Colors in Chinese are short one-syllable words, usually followed by 色 sè, "color". That's how you'll find them in a dictionary and how people answer "what color is it?": 红色, literally "red color". Some colors also carry meanings in China that they don't have in English.

Basic colors in Chinese

• 颜色yánsècolor
• 红色hóngsèred
• 白色báisèwhite
• 黑色hēisèblack
• 绿色lǜsègreen

In 绿色 there's the letter ü: say "ee" and round your lips as if for "oo", like the French "u" or German "ü". Play the recording above to hear it. And sè is not "say": the e sounds close to the "u" in "fun", said further back in the throat.

More colors

Two more very common colors are 蓝色, "blue", and 黄色, "yellow". Here are those and a few others you'll need for clothes and everyday things:

• 蓝色lánsèblue
• 黄色huángsèyellow
• 灰色huīsègray
• 棕色zōngsèbrown
• 紫色zǐsèpurple
• 粉色fěnsèpink
• 橙色chéngsèorange

How to say what color something is

To say the color of a thing, add 的: 红色的, "the red one", "the one that's red". It works just like English "the red one": that's how you ask in a shop and how you answer when choosing between several.

• 你喜欢什么颜色？nǐxǐhuanshénmeyánsèWhat color do you like?
• 我喜欢红色wǒxǐhuanhóngsèI like red.
• 你要红色的还是黑色的？nǐyàohóngsèdeháishihēisèdeDo you want the red one or the black one?

The pattern "A 还是 B" is an "either-or" question: 还是 háishi — or (in a question). It's handy for choosing anything: tea or coffee, today or tomorrow.

What colors mean in Chinese culture

• Red: celebration and good luck. Red lanterns at New Year, red envelopes with money as a gift, a red dress for the bride at a traditional wedding.
• White: the color of mourning. People wear white at traditional funerals, so white flowers or white envelopes are out of place as a gift for a happy occasion.
• Yellow: the imperial color. Once only the court could wear it. But in modern speech 黄色 also means "obscene": where English says a "blue" movie or joke, Chinese says a "yellow" one.
• Green: careful with hats. The expression "to wear a green hat" means "to be a man whose wife is cheating on him", so nobody gives a man a green hat as a present.

How to remember them

Name the colors of things around you in Chinese: "the cup is white", "the phone is black". The main color words are on the HSK 2 word list, and each has its own page with a recording and stroke order, for example 红色.