How to say Colours and Patterns in Chinese

This is a list of colours in Chinese. I have added some vocabulary for patterns to make this complete. Each colour in Chinese has it’s own character and is followed by 色sè (sè), which means colour. Thus for example when you say blue, the character is 蓝lán (lán), however you would say 蓝lán色sè (lán sè), or literally “blue colour”.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Colour	色sè	sè
Black	黑hēi色sè	hēisè
Blue	蓝lán色sè	lán sè
Brown	棕zōng色sè	zōngsè
Chocolate Colour	巧qiǎo克kè力lì色sè	qiǎokèlì sè
Green	绿lǜ色sè	lǜsè
Grey	灰huī色sè	huīsè
Orange	橙chéng色sè	chéngsè
Pink	粉fěn	fěn
Purple	紫zǐ色sè	zǐsè
Red	红hóng色sè	hóngsè
White	白bái色sè	báisè
Yellow	黄huáng色sè	huángsè

How to say light colours in Chinese?

To say a light colour in Chinese, such as light blue or light green, simply add 浅qiǎn (qiǎn) or 淡dàn (dàn) in front of the character. For example blue 蓝lán色sè becomes light blue 浅qiǎn蓝lán色sè. Either of these characters is acceptable and commonly used.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Light Blue / Baby blue	浅qiǎn蓝lán色sè / 淡dàn蓝lán色sè	qiǎn lán sè/ dàn lán sè
Light Brown / Hazel	浅qiǎn褐hè色sè / 淡dàn褐hè色sè	qiǎn hésè/ dàn hésè
Light Green	浅qiǎn绿lǜ色sè / 淡dàn绿lǜ色sè	qiǎn lǜsè/ dàn lǜsè
Light Grey	浅qiǎn灰huī色sè / 淡dàn灰huī色sè	qiǎn huīsè/ dàn huīsè
Light Orange	浅qiǎn橙chéng色sè / 淡dàn橙chéng色sè	qiǎn chéngsè/ dàn chéngsè
Light Purple / Lavender	浅qiǎn紫zǐ色sè / 淡dàn紫zǐ色sè	qiǎn zǐsè/ dàn zǐsè
Light Yellow	浅qiǎn黄huáng色sè / 淡dàn黄huáng色sè	qiǎn huángsè/ dàn huángsè

How to say dark colours in Chinese

To say a dark colour in Chinese, simply add 深shēn (shēn), meaning “dark” or ‘deep” in front of the colour. So for example blue, is 蓝lán色sè and dark blue is 深Shēn蓝lán色sè.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
Dark Blue	深Shēn蓝lán色sè	shēn lán sè
Dark Brown	深shēn棕zōng色sè	shēn zōngsè
Dark Green	深shēn绿lǜ色sè	shēn lǜsè
Dark Grey	深shēn灰huī色sè	shēn huīsè
Dark Orange	深shēn橙chéng色sè	shēn chéngsè
Dark Purple	深shēn紫zǐ色sè	shēn zǐsè
Dark Red	深shēn红hóng	shēn hóng
Dark Yellow	深shēn绿lǜ色sè	shēn huángsè

How to say patterns in Chinese

Here are is a list of common patterns in Chinese. This may be useful if you are shopping to describe what you are looking for.

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
polka dot	圆yuán点diǎn	yuán diǎn
zigzagged	弯wān弯wān曲qū曲qū	wān wānqū qū
stripe	条tiáo纹wén	tiáowén
checked	方fāng格gé	fāng gé
floral	花huā	huā
tartan	格gé子zi	gézi
pattern	图tú案'àn	tú’àn