Chinese character for blue: 蓝 (lán)
The Chinese character for blue is 蓝 (lán). It means blue and appears in 蓝色 (lánsè, blue color) and 蓝天 (lántiān, blue sky). It first meant the indigo plant used to make blue dye.
How 蓝 is built
蓝 has 艹, the plant radical, on top and 监 (jiān) below, which gives the sound. The plant radical is there because blue dye came from the indigo plant. The traditional form 藍 uses 監, the traditional form of 监. As a memory aid, blue is the color of the plant at the top. The idiom 青出于蓝 (blue comes from indigo) means the student surpasses the teacher.
蓝 lán · blue
- 艹cǎo — grass
- 监jiān — to supervise
- 皿mǐn — dish
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 皿mǐn — dish
Origin hint: 艹 gives the meaning, 监 gives the sound. (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 蓝 is used
Other ways to say blue
- 青 qīng — blue-green, the color of nature in classical Chinese
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: Simplified 蓝 and traditional 藍 differ in the lower part, so confirm which form you want.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for blue?
蓝 (lán) means “blue”. In traditional characters it is written 藍.
How do you pronounce 蓝?
蓝 is pronounced lán.
Is 蓝 simplified or traditional?
蓝 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore; 藍 is the traditional form used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.