五颜六色 wǔyán-liùsè multicolored
multicolored; every color under the sun
How to remember 五颜六色: 五 five + 颜 colour + 六 six + 色 color = multicolored.
Characters
How it is used
- A four-character set phrase describing a scene with many colors, used attributively or as a predicate: 五颜六色的气球 (multicolored balloons), 花园里五颜六色 (the garden is a riot of color).
- Literally invokes five colors, six shades as a stock way of saying every color imaginable - do not take the numbers literally.
- Common in descriptive writing about scenery, decorations, and clothing.