Abstract: Color is closely related to people’s life. In human language, the color words are frequently used, and endowed with plentiful emotional and cultural connotations. In both Chinese and English, color words are abundant. We should pay attention to not only their own basic meaning but also their deeper symbolic meaning. This paper tries to make a contrastive study of some major color words in English and Chinese and find out the causes for these differences and further explore the cultural elements behind the different connotations between Chinese and English color words.
Key words: color words; cultural connotations; cultural differences
摘要：颜色与人们的生活紧紧联系在一起。在人类语言里颜色词经常用到，并且被赋予不同的情感和文化内涵。中文和英文中都存在丰富的颜色词，我们不仅要注意他们的基本含义还要注意他们深层象征意义。本文试从中英文中几个主要颜色词着手比较，分析差别产生的原因，从而揭示颜色词所体现的文化内涵的差异。
关键词：颜色词；文化内涵；文化差异
Language is a carrier of culture. Color words, as an important part of language, express special characteristics and customs. The influence of the social culture to the color words is deep-rooted. Each color has its way of expression in different nations. Therefore, color words have symbolic significances which are important for people to comprehend and grasp English and Chinese culture. From the previous discussion, it can be clearly seen that Chinese and English color words carry very different cultural connotations and the differences are mainly caused by the different traditions, thinking styles and life styles, religious beliefs, political systems, and regional cultures. It is advisable for people to attach great importance to the cultural differences between Chinese and English color words.
