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色 — color; look; appearance

color; look; appearance; sex

Pinyin
sè · shǎi
Strokes
6
HSK level
HSK 2
Handwriting
recognition only

This character has more than one reading — sè, shǎi — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 色: 6 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. The syllabus asks you to recognise this character rather than write it by hand.

色 — 6 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 色

Words with 色 in the HSK syllabus: 24

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 白色báisèwhite; fig. reactionary; anti-communistHSK 2
  2. 黑色hēisèblackHSK 2
  3. 红色hóngsèred; revolutionaryHSK 2
  4. 绿色lǜsègreenHSK 2
  5. 颜色yánsècolor; countenance; appearance; facial expressionHSK 2
  6. 黄色huángsèyellow; vulgar; lewd; pornographicHSK 3
  7. 景色jǐngsèscenery; landscape; viewHSK 4
  8. 彩色cǎisècolor; multicoloredHSK 5
  9. 出色chūsèremarkable; outstandingHSK 5
  10. 灰色huīsègray; ash gray; grizzly; pessimistic; gloomyHSK 5
  11. 角色juésèrole; partHSK 5
  12. 脸色liǎnsècomplexion; lookHSK 5
  13. 色彩sècǎitint; coloring; coloration; flavor; characterHSK 5
  14. 特色tèsèa characteristic; a distinctive feature or qualityHSK 5
  15. 五颜六色wǔyán-liùsèmulticolored; every color under the sunHSK 5
  16. 棕色zōngsèbrownHSK 6
  17. 本色běnsèinherent qualities; natural qualitiesHSK 7–9
  18. 绘声绘色huìshēng-huìsèvivid and colorful; true to lifeHSK 7–9
  19. 气色qìsècomplexionHSK 7–9
  20. 物色wùsèto look for; to seek out; to chooseHSK 7–9
  21. 形形色色xíngxíngsèsèall kinds of; all sorts of; every kind ofHSK 7–9
  22. 逊色xùnsèinferiorHSK 7–9
  23. 眼色yǎnsèsignal made with one's eyes; meaningful glanceHSK 7–9
  24. 有声有色yǒushēng-yǒusèhaving sound and color; vivid; dazzlingHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.