色

色 (radical 139, 色+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 弓日山 (NAU), four-corner 2771₇, composition ⿱⺈巴)

1. Kangxi radical #139, ⾊.

• Index:Chinese radical/色
• 絶

• KangXi: page 1014, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30602
• Dae Jaweon: page 1473, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3071, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8272

Historical forms of the character 色
Spring and Autumn	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 爪 (“claw; hand”) + 卩 (“kneeling person”) – complexion.

Shuowen interprets this character as an ideogrammic compound (會意) : 人 (“person; human”) + 卩 (“etiquette”) – complexion.

Compare 印, 抑.

色

1. color/colour; tint; hue; shade

   顏色 / 颜色  ―  yánsè  ―  color

   顏色兒 / 颜色儿  ―  yánshǎir  ―  color

2. look; expression
3. kind; sort

   貨色 / 货色  ―  huòsè  ―  goods; stuff; trash; rubbish; quality of goods; specification

4. feminine charm; beauty

   姿色  ―  zīsè  ―  good looks (of women)

5. sexual; lewd

   色情  ―  sèqíng  ―  pornography; sexual desire

6. (colloquial) perverted; being a pervert
7. theatrical role
8. metallic content
9. used in 色子

   色子  ―  shǎizǐ  ―  a cube with numbers or symbols on each side and used in games of chance

• (color): 顏／颜 (yán)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: しき (shiki, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: しょく (shoku, Jōyō)
• Kun: いろ (iro, 色, Jōyō); いろえ (iroe, 色)^{←いろへ (irofe, historical)}
• Nanori: しか (shika); しこ (shiko)

⟨iro₂⟩ → */irə/ → /iro/

From Old Japanese.

Originally referred to kin, indicating siblings sharing the same mother.[1] Later came to indicate feelings of familial love.[1] Apparently this then evolved to refer to romantic love, and by extension sex, or by alternate extension, female beauty. Then by further extension, this came to refer to beauty in general, and then colorfulness, and finally color.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) いろ​ [ìróꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [iɾo̞]

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色 (hiragana いろ, rōmaji iro)

1. color (US), colour (UK)

   目 (め)の色 (いろ)が違 (ちが)う猫 (ねこ)

   me no iro ga chigau neko

   a cat that has eyes of different color

2. the metaphorical color or mood
   1. one's facial coloring or expression
   2. the shape of one's face or appearance; more specifically, beautiful looks or a beautiful figure
   3. lively elegance, enjoyable or interesting charm
   4. apparent thoughtfulness, warmheartedness
   5. the feeling or mood of a thing
   6. the tenor or timber of a voice or sound
   7. in Noh, a section that is chanted at a medium pace; alternately, a decorative poetic section
   8. in 浄瑠璃 (jōruri, “puppet show narrative”), a lively section that is neither strictly dialog nor narration, but has many elements of dialog
   9. when playing the koto, pushing on a string with the fingers of the left hand to change the pitch of a note, or for vibrato
3. something related to romantic or sexual love, particularly between genders
   1. the emotions or circumstances of attraction between genders
   2. extramarital relations, an affair
   3. an extramarital lover
   4. a prostitute
   5. a red-light district
4. the type or kind of something
5. (informal, slang) various specific kinds of color:
   1. (informal, slang, woman's word) lipstick or rouge
   2. (informal, slang) soy sauce
   3. (informal, slang) paint

色 (-na inflection, hiragana いろ, rōmaji iro)

1. (archaic) of exceptional beauty of form or appearance
   • Utsubo Monogatari, late 10th c.:

     いろなる娘 (むすめ)どもゐなみて

     ironaru musume domo winamite

     beautiful girls all in a row

2. (archaic) knowledgeable about lovemaking, sensual; lascivious, lecherous
   • Ochikubo Monogatari, late 10th c.:

     越前守 (えちぜんもり)色 (いろ)なる人 (ひと)にて

     echizenmori ironaru hito ni te

     Echizenmori was a man who liked the girls / had quite the libido

3. (archaic) elegant, tasteful, refined
   • The Tale of Genji, early 11th c.:

     目 (め)馴 (な)れずもある住 (す)まひの様 (さま)かな色 (いろ)なる御心 (おこころ)にはをかしくおぼしなさる

     menarezu mo aru sumahi no sama ka na ironaru okokoro ni wa okashiku oboshinasaru

     "I haven't seen it before, but it looks like a house," he thought bemusedly in his refined mind...

色 (hiragana いろ, rōmaji iro)

1. kin, blood relative, more specifically family members sharing the same mother

Only found in compounds.

⟨iro₂pe₂⟩ → */irəpəj/ → /irofe/ → /iroe/

Nominalization of the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of classical shimo nidan katsuyō verb 色う (irou, “to color something”).

Not used in modern Japanese.

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [iɾo̞e̞]

色 (hiragana いろえ, rōmaji iroe, historical hiragana いろへ)

1. (obsolete) coloring/colouring, design

From Middle Chinese 色 (MC srik). The goon reading, so likely the initial borrowing.[1]

The Buddhist sense is translation of Sanskrit रूप (rūpa, “outward appearance, color, form, shape”).

• On’yomi: Goon
  • (Tokyo) しき​ [shìkíꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɕikʲi]

色 (hiragana しき, rōmaji shiki)

1. (Buddhism) material form, specifically the organized body as one of the five constituent elements or skandhas
   • 7th century, Heart Sutra (translation by Xuanzang)

     舍 (しゃ)利 (り)子 (し)。色 (しき)不 (ふ)異 (い)空 (くう)。空 (くう)不 (ふ)異 (い)色 (しき)。色 (しき)即 (そく)是 (ぜ)空 (くう)。空 (くう)即 (そく)是 (ぜ)色 (しき)。受 (じゅ)想 (そう)行 (ぎょう)識 (しき)亦 (やく)復 (ぶ)如 (にょ)是 (ぜ)。

     Sharishi, shiki fu i kū, kū fu i shiki. Shiki soku ze kū, kū soku ze shiki. Ju-sō-gyō-shiki, yaku bu nyoze.

     Sariputra, form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form. That which is form is empty; that which is emptiness is form. This is also true for sensation, perception, intention, and awareness.[4]

2. that which is visible of a thing, specifically form and color
3. color (US), colour (UK)

Used extensively in compounds.

• 五 (ご)蘊 (うん) (goun, “five skandhas”): 色 (しき) (shiki, “rūpa”), 受 (じゅ) (ju, “vedanā”), 想 (そう) (sō, “saññā”), 行 (ぎょう) (gyō, “saṅkhāra”), 識 (しき) (shiki, “viññāṇa”)

From Middle Chinese 色 (MC ʃɨk̚). The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.[1]

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • IPA^(key): [ɕo̞kɯ̟ᵝ]

色 (hiragana しょく, rōmaji shoku)

1. color (US), colour (UK)

Used in compounds.

色 (hiragana しょく, rōmaji -shoku)

1. used to count the number of colors

   三 (さん)色 (しょく)刷 (す)り

   sanshoku suri

   three-color printing

• 三色 (さんしょく) (sanshoku)

色 (eumhun 빛 색 (bit saek))

色 • (saek) (hangeul 색)

1. color

色 (sắc, sặc)

1. color