Cultural Connotation of Color Words in English and Chinese

Wang Yuyuan

Abstract：There are different kinds of colors. Color is closely related to people’s life. In human language， the color words are frequently used， and endowed with plentiful emotion and cultural connotation. In both Chinese and English， the words of different colors are abundant. We should pay attention to not only their basic meaning but also their deeper symbolic meaning. Due to the respective cultural background and tradition， people's feeling and expression to the color are not the same， so the symbolic meaning of color can produce great difference between Chinese and Western culture. This paper is to make a contrastive study of some major cultural differences in color words.

Key words： cultural connotation; color words

Introduction

Color is a visual phenomenon launched， reflected or caused through certain light wave by the object; it is one kind of visual essential features of human eye. On the basic color words， there is not so much difference in English and in Chinese. In Chinese， there are 赤、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫、灰，while in English there are red， white， black， green， yellow， blue， purple and gray. Owing to the different historic cultural background of the two cultures， the same color words have different symbolic meanings.

1. Red

Red in the Chinese culture is a basic esteem color. In the Chinese's mind， it signifies excitement and succeeding， lucky， loyal and flourishing. The word red is always relative to emotion both in Chinese and in English. But the way of using the word “red ” in some idioms， which is difficult to the Chinese to understand. For example， the expressions to see “red ” and waving red flag may mean something makes somebody angry ”. And so are some other expressions， such as “red about the girls” and “run red in the girls”. Expression of joy and good luck both in English and in Chinese. The word red is always relative with joy. There is an expression “red –letter days” in English which is concerned with Christmas or other festivals. They are all marked red in calendar， so the phrase “red letter ” expresses the meaning of commemoration， joyous thing. The phrase “the red carpet ” is the thing that is used to receive honored guest. For example， the expression “to roll out the red carpet” shows “welcome somebody ceremoniously”. There are some cases when translate some Chinese expressions with word “red” into English. For instance ， Good look（紅運），Black tea（紅茶）， Brown sugar（紅糖） ， Healthy and energetic（紅光滿面）.

Red in the western culture mainly refers to color of blood， and in minds of the westerner， blood is the “liquid of the life”. So the westerners always associate red with the violence and dangerous， for example red hands， red revenge， and a red battle. It also stands for radical and violent， such as red revolution， red activities， red-headed; like a red rag to a bull means likely to cause strong violence. It also stands for dangerous and tense， such as red alert， a red flag.

2. White

White， opposite to red， is a basic taboo color in Chinese traditional culture. There are extremely similar point in English and in Chinese .There are phrases as “as white as lily（潔白無暇），” “as white as snow（潔白如雪，純潔無暇）” in English. In Chinese there are also phrases as “return me pure（還我清白）” and “quite clear（清清白白）”and so on . In Chinese feudal society， the common people were forbidden to dress in any other colors except white， so they were called 白衣 or 布衣. The persons with no position are 白丁 or 白身⑴（p22）， their houses are 白屋. 白開水plain boiled water，白菜Chinese cabbage，白字wrongly written or mispronounced character，白搭no use，白費事all in vain， 白面flour. White in the western culture is usually an esteem color. White is considered pure. White is the traditional color for the brides at weddings， and to wear white at funerals would be offensive. As white is the color of the snow， so there is a white Christmas and a white winter. Lily white means as white and pure as lily. White stands for honest and upright， such as a white spirit， white man， and white hand. White also stands for luck， such as one of the white days in somebody’s life， white magic， and white hope is a person who is expected to bring success to a team.

3. Black

In English， the color black is a grieved color， so the eastern take it as sable’s color， which is the same to the Chinese. For instance， when people take part in a funeral， they always tie the black cloth up on their sleeve. In addition， there is still some other expressions， “black market（黑市）”， “black money（黑錢）”and “black mail（敲詐）”in Chinese. In the west， black is a taboo color， which stands for darkness. It means death and sinister， such as“Black Mass”， to wear black for her mother， black words， a black letter day. Black symbolizes wicked and guilty， for example， black man， a black deed， black guard， Black-hand. And it means disgrace： such as a black mark， a black eye， a black sheep. And black means dejected and resent： black dog， black future， a black look， and black thoughts. Although black means dead and evil， it also stands for solemn and dignified. Black suit is the westerner’s favorite traditional dress. In solemn occasions， the officials and celebrities would prefer to dress in black.

4. Yellow

In Chinese traditional culture， yellow is located in the center of the Five Colors. As the color of gold and the sun， “yellow” is the symbol of wealth， honor and power. Yellow paper with magic incantations is regarded by superstitious people as a means to expel evil spirits. “黃道吉日” is a day suitable for doing some important things， such as holding wedding and opening ceremonies. Born with yellow skin， cultivated in the yellow soil， and taking the Yellow River as their place of origin， the Chinese people take pride in their belonging to the yellow race， we call ourselves proudly as “炎黃子孫”. What’s more， in Chinese， “黃” is the same in pronunciation as “皇”， so the yellow color has been the color of emperors and the color term “黃” has been used to symbolize imperial power. There are quite a few expressions with “黃” related to the emperor. The imperial dress is called “黃袍”; the palace emperors lived in is “黃宮”. However， yellow in modern China has negative meanings， such as 黃色書刊，黃色錄象. Here yellow has an extended meaning of obscene and pornographic， while in English are “the blue video”， “the blue talk”.

Yellow in the west mostly has derogatory meanings. Here are some examples： yellow alert， alert in advance;

a yellow dog， a contemptible person; yellow looks， suspicious looks; yellow streak， tending to be coward and chicken-hearted. In English， yellow has some particular meanings in certain texts that have no relationship with sentiment. For example， the yellow pages is the telephone dictionary， yellow boy is the golden coins.

5. Green

In the Chinese traditional culture， Green ranks the first in the Five Colors， signifying everything grows. In the feudal society， the dress of the government official on a lower level was regularized to be green， so it also symbolizes humble. 青衫綠袍 is a symbol of low position in the official care.

In English there is a term green-eyed or green with envy， both of them mean jealous and envious. However in Chinese眼紅describes the same meaning. In Chinese 帶綠帽子means to be a cuckold. If we translate it word by word， misunderstanding will arise.

No matter in English or Chinese， this symbolic meaning of green is all identical. Green in the western culture is mainly related to the color of the plants， it is the symbol of vigor and energy， for example， a green old age is associated with an old but vigorous man or woman. And to remain green forever means to keep fresh and vigorous forever， and also in the green; green also means fresh， such as keep a memory green， a green wound， green meat; and it means immature， inexperienced and easily fooled， such as a green hand， a green horn refers to a raw， simple and inexperienced person， easily fooled or parted from his money. In some certain phrases， green has different meanings. For example， green-light means give permission to go ahead with.

6. Purple

In China， purple is more often adopted by the feudal emperors and the Taoism. They called the auspicious air 紫氣， the Taoist books are 紫書， the place which the deity living in is 紫臺， the emperors’ palace is 紫禁城（the Forbidden City）.

In English， purple shares the same connotation as in Chinese language. In the eye of Westerners， purple is the symbol of emperor and power. “to be born in the purple” means “to be born in a royal family”; “to be raised to the purple” means “to be promoted to the position as a pope”; “purple passages” means “too florid words”， etc. In Chinese， 紅得發紫means popular.

Here is more：

marry into the purple： marry into a family of high social position

purple patches： pompous passages

turn purple with rage： fly into a fury

Purple Heart： an insignia awarded to those wounded in the battle

7. Blue

It seems that blue is a favorable word to Chinese. The blue sky can arouse us to yearn for a better future.

In Western culture， however， blue does not associate with happiness and imagination， but gloom and depression. He is in a blue mood means he is sad or gloomy.

Blue is also often associated with high social status or being aristocratic. He is a real blue blood means he is from an aristocratic family. In addition， in U.S.， a book with the names of famous figures， especially top government officials， is called blue book. Blue film means erotic film while in Chinese we call it 黃色電影。Here are more examples：

blue about the gills： in depression blue devils： depression and gloom

once in a blue moon： not very often at all.

blue in the face： look pasty blue murder： horrible screaming and shouts

sing the blues： in low spirits; very depressed

out of the blue： happening in a way that is sudden and unexpected

Conclusion： A language can reflect the development of a nation’s history and culture. The symbolic meanings of color words have great distinction in different cultures. They are shaped in the long-term development of the society.

The colors bring us a wonderful and splendid world， and color words make it easier to express our thought， make our expression more apt and vivid. Correctly understanding colors and their deeper symbolic meaning will be a great help for people in different cultures to communicate.

References：

[1]Gu Jiazu ， Lu Sheng， Language and culture ，Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 1990.6.

[2]Chinese and English Dictionary， Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，1992.2.

[3]Advanced Learner’s English Chinese Dictionary，Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2004.5.

[4]Berlin， Brent. and Paul Kay. Basic Color Terms： Their Universality and Evolution. California： Centre for the Study of Language and Information， 1999.

[5]Davidoff， J. Color Terms and Color Concepts. Amsterdam： Elsevier， 2006.