2.1.1 Degree adjective + color word
(1) Indicating the strong color:
In English, it expresses as “deep/dark + color words”
In Chinese, it expresses as “深” + color words”
E.g.:
English: deep blue; deep green; dark brown; dark red
Chinese: 深蓝色、深绿色、深褐色、深红色
(2) Indicating the light color:
In English, it expresses as : “light/pale + color words”
In Chinese, it expresses as : “浅/淡/ + color words”
E.g.:
English: light yellow; light blue; pale grey; pale white
Chinese: 浅（淡）黄色、浅蓝色、浅灰色、淡白色
(3) Indicating the bright color：
In English, it expresses as : “Bright/rich/vivid + color words”
In Chinese, it expresses as : “鲜/大/亮 + color words”
E.g.:
English: bright/rich/vivid red; bright/rich/vivid yellow
Chinese: 鲜/大/亮红色、鲜/大/亮黄色
(4) Indicating the dark color:
In English, it expresses as : “dull/dirty + color words”
In Chinese, it expresses as : “暗/灰/漆 + color words”
E.g.:
English: dull yellow; dull gold; dirty grey; dirty white; dull black
Chinese: 暗黄色、暗金黄色、暗灰色、灰白色, 漆黑
2.1.2 Color word + suffix
Indicating the different shades of the color:
In English, it expresses as “color words + suffix”
In Chinese, there is no corresponding structure
E.g.:
English: whitish, yellowish; reddish, bluely, golden, rosy
Chinese: 微白的、微黄的、微红的、蓝色的、金黄的、玫瑰红的
2.1.3 Color word + color word
Indicating the mixture of the color:
In English it expresses as: color word + color word
In Chinese it expresses also as: color word + color word
E.g.:
English: yellow green, purple black, green black, blue green，grey black
Chinese: 黄绿色、紫黑色、墨绿色、蓝绿色、黑灰色
2.1.4 Something + color word
Indicating the color which is similar with something:
In English it expresses as: something + color word
In Chinese it expresses also as: something + color word
E.g.:
English: apple green, lemon yellow, milk white, sky blue
Chinese: 苹果绿、柠檬黄、牛奶白、天蓝
2.2 Color and career
2.2.1 Color words and career in western countries
In most western countries, especially in the United States, people often use color to describe one’s job, they add different color to the collar to distinguish various jobs.
White collar
The term white-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated worker who performs semi-professional office, administrative and sales coordination tasks and the like.
Blue collar
Blue-collar worker is a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage. Blue-collar workers are distinguished from those in the service sector and from white-collar workers, whose jobs are not considered manual labor. Blue-collar work may be skilled or unskilled, and may involve manufacturing, mining, building and construction trades, teaching, mechanical work, maintenance, repair and operations maintenance or technical installations.
Gold collar
Gold-collar worker (GCW) is a neologism which has been used to describe either young, high-wage workers who invest in conspicuous luxury (often with parental support), or highly-skilled knowledge workers, traditionally classified as white collar, but who have recently become essential enough to business operations as to warrant a new classification.
Pink collar
Pink collar worker is pertaining to employees in predominately female service industry, service industries.
Green collar
A green-collar worker is a worker who is employed in the environmental sectors of the economy, or in the agricultural sector. Environmental green-collar workers satisfy the demand for green development. Green collar workers include professionals such as conservation movement workers, environmental consultants, environmental or biological systems engineers.
2.2.2 Color words and careers in China
In China, there are also some similar color words to describe one’s job. For instance, those workers who are better educated and have some working experience, we call them 白领. While those workers who may involve in manufacturing, mining, building and construction trades, mechanical work, maintenance, repair and operations maintenance or technical installations, we call them 蓝领. And we call those highly-skilled knowledge workers 金领, those women who are on the sub-important stations, we call them 粉领, and those who work in the environmental sectors of the economy, or in the agricultural sector 绿领.
3 Differences between English and Chinese color words
The nature is varicolored, there are many color expressions, which reflect different culture psychologies and emotional colorings both in Chinese and English. A lot of color words are produced under special historical and social background, most of which are called “culture limited words”. If we don’t understand these words, the social custom and their cultural background, it will be hard for us to communicate with each other. Therefore, it is of great importance to grasp the differences between the literal meaning and the amplifying meaning. Now, let’s talk about the differences in terms of history, politics, economy, and daily usage.
3.1 Color words and history
There are many color expressions, which reflect different cultural psychologies and emotional colorings both in Chinese and English. Especially in Chinese, there have been rich and colorful color words since ancient times. There have been the same in English. Many color expressions reflect the Western customs as well.
Colors in Traditional Western History:
In Western, people pay attention to religion. They often display the basic meaning of color words to the objective world, so the symbolic meanings of the color words are directly link to western religion.
Red
In western countries, red is associated with happy things, like red-letter which means happy days or memorable days. However, it also relates to war, blood and horror. For example, red- handed describes someone who is committing a crime.
White
White is the symbol of purity. In the Bible, an angel always wears a white dress, with a white aura over the head, a pair of white wings in the back and a magic wand in the hand. So until now, people still consider white as something pure.
While in Chinese, there is even a long history of color words.
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