色

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character edit

See images of
Radical 139 色

色 (Kangxi radical 139, 色+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 弓日山 (NAU), four-corner 2771₇, composition ⿱⺈巴)

1. Kangxi radical #139, ⾊.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №340

Derived characters edit

• Appendix:Chinese radical/色
• 𠈜, 𬻖, 𠲅, 𫵺, 𢙚, 𢬘, 𣴊, 𨹔, 𨒶, 栬, 𥅺, 𥒍, 絶(绝), 𬚐, 赩, 𨉆, 𨋭, 𨠶, 銫(铯), 靘, 𤧾, 𮪀, 𫙙, 䵥, 𪗼
• 𨛉, 𪁅, 𤈖, 𪵼, 𤶋, 艶(艷,艳)
• 脃 (Exception: Only for mainland China character. Other regions contain ⿱刀巴 instead of 色)

See also edit

• 𡜆, 絕

Further reading edit

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1014, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30602
• Dae Jaweon: page 1473, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3071, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8272

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 色 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• Sek (Southern Min)

Glyph origin edit

Historical forms of the character 色
Spring and Autumn	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 爪 (“claw; hand”) + 卩 (“kneeling person”) – complexion.

Shuowen interprets this character as an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 人 (“person; human”) + 卩 (“etiquette”) – complexion.

Compare 印, 抑.

Etymology edit

Possibly from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-r(j)ak ~ *g-jak (“ashamed; shy”), whence Burmese ရှက် (hrak, “ashamed; shy”), Japhug tɤ-zraʁ (“shame”) (Schuessler, 2007; Jacques, 2015b).

Alternatively, Schuessler (2007) connects this word to Mizo sâr (“prismatic colours seen in the sky in fine weather; to be healthy-looking, ruddy”), which would point to a form *sər-k from which the Old Chinese was derived.

彩 (OC *s.r̥ˤəʔ, “colour”) may be a dialectal variant (Baxter, 1992; Baxter and Sagart, 2014).

Pronunciation edit

Definitions edit

色

1. color; tint; hue; shade (Classifier: 隻／只 c)

   顏色／颜色  ―  yánsè  ―  color

   顏色兒／颜色儿  ―  yánshǎir  ―  color

   紅色／红色  ―  hóngsè  ―  red

   四色定理  ―  sì sè dìnglǐ  ―  four color theorem

2. ^⁜ look; expression

   臉色／脸色  ―  liǎnsè  ―  facial expression

   • 子曰：「巧言令色，鮮矣仁。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     子曰：「巧言令色，鲜矣仁。」 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Zǐyuē: “Qiǎoyánlìngsè, xiǎn yǐ rén.” [Pinyin]

     The Master said, "Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue."

3. ^⁜ scenery; circumstance

   景色  ―  jǐngsè  ―  scenery

   夜色  ―  yèsè  ―  night scenery

4. kind; sort

   貨色／货色  ―  huòsè  ―  goods; stuff; trash; rubbish; quality of goods; specification

5. feminine charm; beauty

   姿色  ―  zīsè  ―  good looks (of women)

6. lust; sexual desire

   好色  ―  hàosè  ―  to lust for women

   色情  ―  sèqíng  ―  pornography; sexual desire

7. (colloquial) perverted; being a pervert; lecherous
8. theatrical role

   角色  ―  juésè  ―  role; part

9. metallic content

   成色  ―  chéngsè  ―  purity (of a precious metal in an alloy)

10. die (a cube with numbers or symbols on each side, used in games of chance) (Classifier: 粒 c)

    色子  ―  shǎizi  ―  die

11. (Buddhism) rūpa (form; material element; form of existence; etc.)

    色即是空，空即是色。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

    Sè jí shì kōng, kōng jí shì sè. [Pinyin]

    Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

12. (transgender slang) Short for 色普龍／色普龙; cypro (cyproterone acetate)

    • 各位靠補+色hrt的朋友們請注意檢測自己的E2/E1比例 [MSC, trad.]
      各位靠补+色hrt的朋友们请注意检测自己的E2/E1比例 [MSC, simp.]

      From: 2020 November 28, KhloeKkkkkkkk 的想法: 各位靠补+色hrt的朋友们请注意检测自己的… - 知乎

      gèwèi kào bǔ + sè hrt de péngyǒu men qǐng zhùyì jiǎncè zìjǐ de E2 / E1 bǐlì [Pinyin]

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

13. a surname

Synonyms edit

• (color): 顏／颜 (yán)
• (perverted):

• (die):

See also edit

• (cypro): 補／补 (bǔ, “E”), 螺 (luó, “spiro”)

Compounds edit

Descendants edit

References edit

• “色”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A03427
• “Entry #2612”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Further reading edit

• Ding, Fubao (丁福保) (1922), “色” in 佛學大辭典 [A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms].

Stroke order

Kanji edit

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings edit

• Go-on: しき (shiki, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: しょく (shoku, Jōyō)
• Kun: いろ (iro, 色, Jōyō); いろえ (iroe, 色)^{←いろへ (irofe, 色, historical)}
• Nanori: しか (shika); しこ (shiko)

Compounds edit

Etymology 1 edit

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

色

Wikipedia ^ja

⟨iro₂⟩ → */irə/ → /iro/

From Old Japanese.

First attested in the Nihon Shoki with the meaning of color.^[1] Senses referring to a person's emotions also appear quite early on. The romance or sex senses appear from the 900s, apparently an influence from Chinese usage,^[1] and roughly comparable to the euphemistic usage of English colorful.

Pronunciation edit

• (Tokyo) いろ​ [ìróꜜ] (Odaka – [2])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [iɾo̞]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun edit

色(いろ) • (iro) 

1. [from 720] color

   目(め)の色(いろ)が違(ちが)う猫(ねこ)

   me no iro ga chigau neko

   a cat that has eyes of different color

2. [from 797] (figurative) the metaphorical color or mood
   1. one's facial coloring or expression
   2. the shape of one's face or appearance; more specifically, beautiful looks or a beautiful figure
   3. lively elegance, enjoyable or interesting charm
   4. apparent thoughtfulness, warmheartedness
   5. the feeling or mood of a thing
   6. the tenor or timber of a voice or sound
   7. in Noh, a section that is chanted at a medium pace; alternately, a decorative poetic section
   8. in 浄瑠璃 (jōruri, “puppet show narrative”), a lively section that is neither strictly dialog nor narration, but has many elements of dialog
   9. when playing the koto, pushing on a string with the fingers of the left hand to change the pitch of a note, or for vibrato
3. [from early 900s] something related to romantic or sexual love, particularly between genders
   1. the emotions or circumstances of attraction between genders
   2. extramarital relations, an affair
   3. an extramarital lover
   4. a prostitute
   5. a red-light district
4. [from late 900s] the type or kind of something
5. (informal, slang) various specific kinds of color:
   1. (informal, slang, woman's speech) lipstick or rouge
   2. (informal, slang) soy sauce
   3. (informal, slang) paint