颜 (yán): color, face, countenance
颜 (yán) is a Chinese character meaning “color.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 彦 (phonetic) and 页 (semantic). It ranks #1535 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 颜 head. Its radical form 页 (page) appears in many related characters such as 页 (yè, page), 顺 (shùn, to obey), 须 (xū, must).
Definitions
- color
- face
- countenance
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 颜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 颜
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 颜料noun | yán liào | paint |
| 颜面noun | yán miàn | face |
| 红颜noun | hóng yán | a beautiful woman |
| 容颜noun | róng yán | mien |
| 汗颜verb | hàn yán | to blush with shame (literary) |
| 笑颜noun | xiào yán | smiling face |
| 喜笑颜开phrase | xǐ xiào yán kāi | grinning from ear to ear (idiom) |
| 笑逐颜开phrase | xiào zhú yán kāi | smile spread across the face (idiom) |
| 和颜悦色phrase | hé yán yuè sè | amiable manner |
| 养颜verb | yǎng yán | to nourish one's skin |
| 素颜noun | sù yán | a face without makeup |
| 给你点颜色看看 | gěi nǐ diǎn yán sè kàn kan | (I'll) teach you a lesson |
| 美颜相机 | měi yán xiàng jī | BeautyCam, a smartphone app for retouching selfies (abbr. to 美顏|美颜) |
| 书中自有黄金屋，书中自有颜如玉 | shū zhōng zì yǒu huáng jīn wū , shū zhōng zì yǒu yán rú yù | lit. in books are sumptuous houses and graceful ladies (proverb) |
| 无颜见江东父老phrase | wú yán jiàn jiāng dōng fù lǎo | (idiom) to be unable to return to one's hometown due to the shame of failure (originally referred to Xiang Yu 項羽|项羽[X... |
颜 appears in 55 compound words: 29 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 35 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 颜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing 颜.
Example Sentences
他已经在这个行业工作了二十年，经验丰富。
Tā yǐjīng zài zhè gè hángyè gōngzuò le èrshí nián, jīngyàn fēngfù.
He has worked in this industry for twenty years and has rich experience.
爱妻男神被捕获真实颜值曝光一优点令男士妒忌 网民:老婆有福气
ài qī nán shén bèi bǔ huò zhēn shí yán zhí pù guāng yī yōu diǎn lìng nán shì dù jì wǎng mín : lǎo pó yǒu fú qì
The male god who loves his wife was captured and his real appearance was exposed, which made men jealous Netizens: Blessed wives
侯佩岑颜值升级捱酸 “五官变形”吓窒网友
侯 pèi 岑 yán zhí shēng jí 捱 suān wǔ guān biàn xíng hè zhì wǎng yǒu
Patty Hou's appearance upgraded and suffered from acid "facial features deformation" to scare netizens
颜玉君:走出课室,倾听玛美里族雕刻背后的故...
yán yù jūn zǒu chū kè shì , qīng tīng 玛 měi lǐ zú diāo kè bèi hòu de gù . . .
[Translation pending - quota exceeded]
盛世美颜主播王偊菁 新春穿红吱吱旗袍迎开工
shèng shì měi yán zhǔ bō wáng 偊 菁 xīn chūn chuān hóng 吱 吱 qí páo yíng kāi gōng
Shengshi beauty anchor Wang Yijing wore a red squeaky cheongsam to welcome the start of work in the New Year
大便3大变化自测健康 这2种颜色恐患胰脏癌/大肠癌 伴随3情况须求医
dà biàn dà biàn huà zì cè jiàn kāng zhè zhǒng yán sè kǒng huàn 胰 zāng ái dà cháng ái bàn suí qíng kuàng xū qiú yī
Three Major Stool Changes to Self-Assess Your Health These Two Colors May Indicate Pancreatic Cancer/Colon Cancer Seek Medical Attention If Accompanied by These 3 Conditions
款式很不错，不过有没有别的颜色？
Kuǎnshì hěn bù cuò, bùguò yǒuméiyǒu biéde yánsè?
The style is nice, but do you have it in a different color?
您的头发是什么颜色的？
Nín de tóufa shì shénme yánsè de?
What color is your hair?
你知道她喜欢什么颜色吗？
Nǐ zhīdào tā xǐhuan shénme yánsè ma?
Do you know what color she likes?
我们有你的尺寸，但是没有那个颜色。
Wǒmen yǒu nǐ de chǐcun, dànshì méiyǒu nàge yánsè.
We have your size, but not in that color.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 颜 (yán) mean in Chinese?
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What are common words containing 颜?
What characters sound the same as 颜 (yán)?
Is 颜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 颜 with real-time feedback
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