Meaning & readings
coloring, paint, makeup
Origin
The character 彩 combines a sound hint on the left with a visual indicator on the right. The left component 采 suggests the pronunciation (roughly "sai"), while the right component 彡, which shows three short lines like streaks or threads, acts as a classifier that points toward the idea of coloring or patterns. Together, these parts create a character that represents the application of color and decorative patterns to things, whether paint on a surface or colors in nature.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).
Components
- 采
- 彡
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 59
- Grade
- Jōyō (secondary school)
- Frequency rank
- #1251 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 1
- Unicode
- U+05F69