摘　 要

色彩词汇如同人类语言一样丰富多彩，颜色词渗透到文学作品、翻译以及人们的生活中并起着重大作用。在英汉两种语言中，用来表示这些颜色的颜色词和习惯用语数不胜数，内容涉及社会习俗、历史文化、宗教信仰等各个方面。因此，对中英颜色词的内涵进行较为系统的研究是值得探讨的。本文从不同的语言、文化和社会环境下所包含的不同含义出发，着重对中英颜色词的文化内涵加以探讨。通过了解和掌握颜色词在两种语言中的联想象征意义和蕴含的寓意，才能更好的了解中英两国的文化，并促进中英两国更有效、更顺利的交际。

关键词：颜色词；文化内涵；文化差异

Abstract

Color words are as rich and varied as the human language, and they exert an important position in literature，translation and people’s daily life. In both English and Chinese, there are a great variety of words, phrases and idioms related to colors which cover social customs, historical culture, religions and belief, sensory symbol and so on. Thus, it is worth having a comprehensive study on the cultural connotations of Sino-British color words. This paper focuses on studying cultural connotations of color terms in Chinese and English from different meanings in different languages and different cultural backgrounds. Through knowing and mastering of associations, indications and cultural connotations related to color words, it is beneficial for a better comprehension of the different cultures of two nations, which will promote the communication more efficient and smoothly.

Key words: color words; cultural connotation; cultural differences

1 Introduction
Language is an indispensable tool for human communication as well as a sensitive element of human culture. The expressions of different nations in language use are abounded with their own characteristics and cultural connotations, which describe diversely and complexly from each other. Depending on the rapid growth of economy and close interactions with each nation, we find that a tremendous amount of phrases, words and idioms related to colors are not only widely used in commercial English which cover social customs, historical culture, religions and beliefs, sensory symbols and so on, but also occupy such an important position in human life that quite many scientists consider it the cornerstone of culture.