HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Adjectives

红色 hóngsè “red (colour)” in Chinese

Traditional 紅色

What 红色 means

  1. red (colour)

How to say 红色

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale红hóng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale色sè4th tone, falling

红色 in a sentence

  1. 我最喜欢红色。

    Wǒ zuì xǐhuan hóngsè.

    Red is my favourite colour.

    Sentence #9955413 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 她穿了一条红色的裙子。

    Tā chuān le yì tiáo hóngsè de qúnzi.

    She wore a red dress.

    Sentence #494868 from Tatoeba

  3. 你喜欢蓝色的还是红色的？

    Nǐ xǐhuan lánsè de háishi hóngsè de?

    Do you prefer the blue one or the red one?

    Sentence #813330 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 红色 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 红 (hóng) with each of its parts in a different colour
红hóngred
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 工work · gōngSound part

纟 hints at the meaning (silk); 工 (gōng) hints at the sound. Compare it with hóng.

Memory aidSilk 纟 with 工 (gōng) for the sound: red, the colour of dyed silk.

The character 色 (sè) with each of its parts in a different colour
色sècolour
  • ⺈knife form of 刀 · dāo
  • 巴to desire · bā

How to write 红色

红 6 strokes · 色 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

红色 (hóngsè) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 红色 (hóngsè). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 红色

Words with 红

红hóng · red红茶hóngchá · black tea红绿灯hónglǜdēng · traffic lights西红柿xīhóngshì · tomato分红fēnhóng · to share profits

Words with 色

颜色yánsè · colour白色báisè · white黑色hēisè · black绿色lǜsè · green黄色huángsè · yellow景色jǐngsè · scenery出色chūsè · remarkable角色juésè · role色彩sècǎi · colour特色tèsè · distinctive feature

More words: Adjectives

好吃hǎochī · delicious白色báisè · white不错bùcuò · not bad黑色hēisè · black绿色lǜsè · green没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting矮ǎi · short

FAQs

红色 (hóngsè) means “red (colour)”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it hóngsè: hóng with a 2nd tone, then sè with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 红色 is written 紅色. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type hongse with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 红色 from the suggestions. Typing hongse into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
红色 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.