彩 (cǎi): (bright) color, variety, applause
彩 (cǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “(bright) color.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 采 (phonetic) and 彡 (semantic). It ranks #1173 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 彩 hair. Its radical form 彡 (bristle) appears in many related characters such as 影 (yǐng, picture), 形 (xíng, to appear), 彬 (bīn, urbane).
Definitions
- (bright) color
- variety
- applause
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 彩 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 彩
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 精彩adjective | jīng cǎi | wonderful | 4 |
| 彩虹noun | cǎi hóng | rainbow | 6 |
| 彩票noun | cǎi piào | lottery ticket | 6 |
| 色彩noun | sè cǎi | tint | 5 |
| 彩色noun | cǎi sè | color | 5 |
| 丰富多彩phrase | fēng fù duō cǎi | richly colorful | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 彩排verb | cǎi pái | dress rehearsal |
| 光彩adjective | guāng cǎi | luster |
| 喝彩verb | hè cǎi | to acclaim |
| 出彩verb | chū cǎi | to perform outstandingly |
| 云彩noun | yún cai | (coll.) cloud |
| 多姿多彩phrase | duō zī duō cǎi | diversity (of forms and colors) |
| 大放异彩phrase | dà fàng yì cǎi | to shine (of talents, skills, accomplishment) |
| 光彩夺目phrase | guāng cǎi duó mù | dazzling |
| 彩带noun | cǎi dài | colored ribbon |
| 彩车noun | cǎi chē | float (in a parade) |
| 多彩adjective | duō cǎi | colorful |
| 头彩noun | tóu cǎi | first prize in a lottery |
| 异彩noun | yì cǎi | extraordinary splendor |
| 倒彩noun | dào cǎi | adverse audience reaction: boos and jeers, hissing, catcalls or deliberate applause after a mistake |
| 剪彩verb | jiǎn cǎi | to cut the ribbon (at a launching or opening ceremony) |
彩 appears in 100 compound words: 42 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 12 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 彩 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (11)
varied and colorful; splendid; diversity (of forms and colors); elegant and graceful posture
alternative form of 沒精打采 /没精打采 (méijīngdǎcǎi, “listless; lackadaisical”)
all the colours in profusion; full of bright colours; multicoloured; garish display
alternative form of 沒精打采 /没精打采 (méijīngdǎcǎi, “listless; lackadaisical”)
Example Sentences
老师教我们彩字的发音和笔顺。
lǎo shī jiào wǒ men cǎi zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .
The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "彩."
杠龟彩券、刮刮乐不要丢!杰升通信回收领200元...
gàng guī cǎi quàn , guā guā lè bù yāo diū ! jié shēng tōng xìn huí shōu lǐng 2 0 0 yuán . . .
Don't lose the lottery and scratch tickets! Jiesheng Communications recycles 200 yuan...
牛池湾彩辉邨单位遭爆窃 失3只劳力士及珠宝现金 ...
niú chí wān cǎi huī 邨 dān wèi zāo bào qiè shī 3 zhī láo lì shì jí zhū bǎo xiàn jīn . . .
A unit in Choi Fai Estate, Ngau Chi Wan was burglarized, and 3 Rolexes and jewelry cash were lost...
考文垂:期待“为奥运喝彩”项目组持续发挥文化桥梁作用
kǎo wén chuí : qī dài wéi ào yùn hē cǎi xiàng mù zǔ chí xù fā huī wén huà qiáo liáng zuò yòng
Coventry: We look forward to the "Cheers for the Olympics" project team continuing to play a cultural bridge
震撼!挖3563克拉紫星彩宝 飙126亿台币
zhèn hàn ! wā 3 5 6 3 kè lā zǐ xīng cǎi bǎo biāo 1 2 6 yì tái bì
Shocking! Digging 3,563 carats of purple star colored treasures soared to NT$12.6 billion
新春走基层|网球传奇齐聚上海,精彩球技点燃新春佳节
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng wǎng qiú chuán qí qí jù shàng hǎi , jīng cǎi qiú jì diǎn rán xīn chūn jiā jié
Tennis legends gathered in Shanghai, and their wonderful skills ignited the Spring Festival
他看见色彩鲜艳的鸟、花朵和树叶。
Tā kànjiàn sècǎi xiānyàn de niǎo, huāduǒ hé shùyè.
He saw brightly-colored birds, flowers and leaves.
和这幅比起上来，那幅画的色彩鲜艳多了。
Hé zhè fú bǐqǐ shànglái, nà fú huà de sècǎi xiānyàn duō le.
The picture is colorful in contrast with this one.
彩虹是自然界最美的现象之一。
Cǎihóng shì zìránjiè zuì Měidí xiànxiàng zhīyī.
A rainbow is one of the most beautiful phenomena of nature.
请给我一卷彩色胶片。
Qǐng gěi wǒ yī juǎn cǎisè jiāopiàn.
A roll of colour film, please.
Character Family
彡 Radical Family — Characters sharing the bristle radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 彩 (cǎi) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 彩 have?
What is the radical of 彩?
What are the components of 彩?
What are common words containing 彩?
What characters sound the same as 彩 (cǎi)?
Is 彩 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 彩 with real-time feedback
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