HSK 6 · Body

眼色 yǎnsè “meaningful look” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 眼色 means

  1. meaningful look
  2. signal with the eyes
  3. signal made with one’s eyes
  4. meaningful glance

How to say 眼色

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale眼yǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale色sè4th tone, falling

眼色 in a sentence

  1. 妈妈给我使了个眼色，让我别说话。

    Māma gěi wǒ shǐ le ge yǎnsè, ràng wǒ bié shuōhuà.

    Mum gave me a look to tell me not to speak.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他看了看老板的眼色，就不再说了。

    Tā kàn le kàn lǎobǎn de yǎnsè, jiù bú zài shuō le.

    He saw the look on the boss’s face and stopped talking.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 眼色 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 眼 (yǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
眼yǎneye 双)
  • 目eye · mùMeaning part
  • 艮stopping · gěnSound part

目 hints at the meaning (eye); 艮 (gěn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yǎn.

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 眼色

眼 11 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.

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

Words related to 眼色

Words with 眼

眼睛yǎnjing · eye眼镜yǎnjìng · glasses眼yǎn · eye眼神yǎnshén · look in one’s eyes耀眼yàoyǎn · dazzling眼光yǎnguāng · vision心眼儿xīnyǎnr · mind

Words with 色

颜色yánsè · colour白色báisè · white黑色hēisè · black红色hóngsè · red (colour)绿色lǜsè · green黄色huángsè · yellow景色jǐngsè · scenery出色chūsè · remarkable角色juésè · role色彩sècǎi · colour

More words: People, Body & Health

性命xìngmìng · life (of a person or animal)胸膛xiōngtáng · chest嗅觉xiùjué · sense of smell血压xuèyā · blood pressure眼神yǎnshén · look in one’s eyes遗传yíchuán · genetic眨zhǎ · to blink症状zhèngzhuàng · symptom

FAQs

眼色 (yǎnsè) means “meaningful look” or “signal with the eyes”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yǎnsè: yǎn with a 3rd 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.
Yes. 眼色 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yanse with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 眼色 from the suggestions. Typing yanse into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
眼色 is an HSK 6 word in the 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.