Colors in Chinese

Colors in Chinese with characters, pinyin and audio, plus what red, white and gold mean culturally and which colours to avoid as a gift.

Naming a colour: the 色 suffix

红, 蓝, 绿 and the rest are the bare colour roots. In most sentences they take 色 (sè, colour) to become a noun: 红色 red, 蓝色 blue, 绿色 green. Before a noun you normally add 的 as well — 红色的车, a red car. The bare form survives in fixed compounds like 红茶 (black tea, literally red tea) and 红包 (a red envelope of money).

Red is the colour of luck, and white is not

红 is the colour of celebration — weddings, New Year, the 红包 handed to children and staff. 白 is the colour of mourning and is worn at funerals, which is why a white gift wrapping or white flowers can land badly. This is the single most useful thing on this page: the Western associations are close to inverted.

Gold, and the colours to avoid

黄金 (gold) carries wealth and prestige and pairs with red at New Year. Two things to avoid: writing someone's name in red ink, which is historically associated with the dead, and giving a green hat — 戴绿帽子, to wear a green hat, means your partner is unfaithful.