A Contrastive Study on the Associative Meanings of Basic Color Terms in English and Chinese

摘要

We use various colors to describe our world and express our feelings. As a result of different language cultures, historical backgrounds, religious beliefs, modes of thinking, political systems, traditional customs and so on in different nationalities, the associative meanings produced by the color have nothing in common with each other. So learners have some difficulty in understanding the color terms. In this essay, I will mainly discuss similarities and differences of associative meaning of six basic color terms in English and Chinese. I hope this essay is helpful to communication and understanding of Chinese and English cultures.