色
shǎi
2 readings · tap one to hear it
color; CL:種|种[zhong3]; look; appearance; sex
- HSK 3.0
- Level 2
- Old HSK
- Level 2
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 色 itself
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 色
- Common rank
- #111
- Unicode
- U+8272
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How to remember it
color · Heisig RSH #1330
bound up + mosaic
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 色
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 水天一色 | water and sky merge in one color (idiom) | |
| 面无人色 | ashen-faced | |
| 白色家电 | white goods (such as refrigerators and washing machines) | |
| 色子 | dice (used in gambling) | |
| 白色体 | leucoplast | |
| 无色 | colorless | |
| 天色 | color of the sky; time of day, as indicated by the color of the sky; weather | |
| 量子色动力学 | quantum chromodynamics (particle physics) | |
| 色拉 | (loanword) salad | |
| 白色 | white; fig. reactionary; anti-communist | |
| 有色 | colored; non-white; non-ferrous (metals) | |
| 金色 | golden; gold (color) | |
| 花色 | variety; design and color; suit (cards) | |
| 上色 | top-quality; top-grade | |
| 上色 | to color (a picture etc); to dye (fabric etc); to stain (furniture etc) | |
| 气色 | complexion | |
| 分色 | color separation | |
| 面色 | complexion | |
| 色长 | head of a division of the music academy of the imperial court | |
| 化学比色法 | chemical colorimetry |
Sound family
These characters use 色 as their sound component — compare how they read.
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 色 sound part | color, tint, hue, shade; beauty, form; sex | |
| 绝 | to cut, to sever; to break off, to terminate | |
| 铯 | cesium |