Word
色彩
Meaning in Englishcolor
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
色彩 denotes the color or chromatic quality of surfaces, objects, or scenes—the spectrum of hues and their perceived intensity.
Main meanings
- Chromatic quality: the overall impression created by the colors of an object or scene.
- Palette and harmony: the set or arrangement of colors used in art, design, or photography.
- Vividness and decorative coloration: the richness or intensity of color, sometimes used metaphorically for liveliness or mood.
How to use it
Used in formal and semi-formal discourse across art criticism, design, fashion, education, and journalism to describe color characteristics and palettes; common collocations include 色彩豊か, 色彩設計, and 色彩理論.
Variants and close terms
- 色合い (iroai) – hue, shade
- 彩度 (sado) – saturation
- 色味 (iromi) – color impression
- 無彩色 (musaishiki) – achromatic color
Composition
- 色 — color, hue
- 彩 — colorfulness, vividness, decoration
- Together they express the idea of chromatic richness and the overall color quality of something
Etymology
Etymology 色彩 combines two kanji, 色 color and 彩 colorfulness or decoration, forming a native Japanese compound; the reading shikisai arises from the on'yomi of both characters in a common noun.
Origin
Color concepts entered Japanese through literary Chinese; in classical and modern usage 色彩 has been used to discuss chromatic quality in art, design, and natural description.
Word class
Noun (名詞)