Here are Chinese words for colors & shapes to start with: 黑 (hēi, black), 蓝 (lán, blue), 绿 (lǜ, green), 橙色 (chéng sè, orange). Below are 48 words (A1–C2) with their English translations, part of speech and a romanization to help you say them, across 6 themed lists.
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| black | 黑hēi | adj | A1 |
| blue | 蓝lán | adj | A1 |
| green | 绿lǜ | adj | A1 |
| orange | 橙色chéng sè | adj | A1 |
| purple | 紫zǐ | adj | A1 |
| red | 红hóng | adj | A1 |
| white | 白bái | adj | A1 |
| yellow | 黄huáng | adj | A1 |
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| bright | 明亮míng liàng | adj | A1 |
| brown | 棕色zōng sè | adj | A1 |
| pink | 粉红fěn hóng | adj | A1 |
| colorful | 色彩缤纷sè cǎi bīn fēn | adj | A2 |
| amber | 琥珀色hǔ pò sè | adj | B1 |
| crimson | 绯红色fēi hóng sè | adj | B1 |
| emerald | 翠绿cuì lǜ | adj | B1 |
| ivory | 象牙色xiàng yá sè | adj | B1 |
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| shade | 色度sè dù | noun | A2 |
| tone | 色调sè diào | noun | A2 |
| pastel | 粉彩色fěn cǎi sè | adj | B2 |
| opaque | 不透明的bù tòu míng de | adj | C1 |
| pigment | 颜料yán liào | noun | C1 |
| vibrant | 鲜艳xiān yàn | adj | C1 |
| chromatic | 彩色的cǎi sè de | adj | C2 |
| spectrum | 光谱guāng pǔ | noun | C2 |
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| cool color | 冷色lěng sè | noun | B1 |
| primary color | 原色yuán sè | noun | B1 |
| secondary color | 间色jiàn sè | noun | B1 |
| warm color | 暖色nuǎn sè | noun | B1 |
| complementary | 互补的hù bǔ de | adj | B2 |
| dye | 染料rǎn liào | noun | B2 |
| hue | 色相sè xiàng | noun | B2 |
| tint | 浅色调qiǎn sè diào | noun | B2 |
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| bronze | 青铜色qīng tóng sè | adj | B1 |
| indigo | 靛青色diàn qīng sè | adj | B1 |
| lavender | 薰衣草色xūn yī cǎo sè | adj | B1 |
| teal | 蓝绿色lán lǜ sè | adj | B1 |
| khaki | 卡其色kǎ qí sè | adj | B2 |
| olive | 橄榄绿gǎn lǎn lǜ | adj | B2 |
| scarlet | 猩红xīng hóng | adj | B2 |
| tan | 黄褐色huáng hè sè | adj | B2 |
| English | Chinese | Type | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| diagonal | 对角线duì jiǎo xiàn | noun | B1 |
| ellipse | 椭圆tuǒ yuán | noun | B1 |
| hexagon | 六边形liù biān xíng | noun | B1 |
| octagon | 八边形bā biān xíng | noun | B1 |
| perpendicular | 垂直chuí zhí | adj | B1 |
| polygon | 多边形duō biān xíng | noun | B1 |
| prism | 棱柱léng zhù | noun | B1 |
| sphere | 球体qiú tǐ | noun | B1 |
Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0
Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch
These lists show a sample of the A1–C2 words for colors & shapes. The packs in Watch Your Language hold more and reach the advanced levels, along with every other topic.
The app shows them to you a few at a time, in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting.
You could start with words like 黑 (hēi, black), 蓝 (lán, blue), 绿 (lǜ, green), 橙色 (chéng sè, orange). This page lists 48 Chinese words for colors & shapes (A1–C2), each with its English translation and part of speech.
Reading a list once is rarely enough. Watch Your Language shows Chinese words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and schedules repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.
Yes. The lists on this page are free to read, with no sign-up. The app holds more words for each topic.