Skip to content
Chinese Copilot

颜色yán sècolor

HSK 2word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

颜色 (yán sè) means "color," the quality of being red, blue, white, and so on, as in 你喜欢什么颜色 (what color do you like?). In some contexts it can also mean a person's countenance or appearance. For learners, the "color" sense is the everyday one to know first.

What does 颜色 mean?

  1. 1.

    colornoun

  2. 2.

    countenancenoun

  3. 3.

    appearancenoun

What do the characters in 颜色 mean?

  • 颜color
  • 色color

How do you use 颜色?

颜色 often follows 什么 in questions, and can describe clothes, cars, or anything you can see.

What are some examples of 颜色 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 1

    你喜欢什么颜色？

    Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yánsè?

    What color do you like?

  2. HSK 1

    这件衣服的颜色很好看。

    Zhè jiàn yīfu de yánsè hěn hǎokàn.

    The color of this piece of clothing is very nice.

  3. HSK 3

    我想要别的颜色。

    Wǒ xiǎng yào biéde yánsè.

    I want a different color.

How is 颜色 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    这件衣服有别的颜色吗？

    Zhè jiàn yīfu yǒu biéde yánsè ma?

    Does this piece of clothing come in other colors?

  2. Speaker B:

    有红色和白色。

    Yǒu hóngsè hé báisè.

    There's red and white.

  3. Speaker A:

    我试试红色的。

    Wǒ shìshi hóngsè de.

    I'll try the red one.

  4. Speaker B:

    好的，红色的在那边。

    Hǎo de, hóngsè de zài nàbiān.

    OK, the red ones are over there.

What should you learn next?

Related words

Browse every entry in the Chinese word dictionary.

English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.