colorful

English

Alternative forms

colourful (Commonwealth English)

Etymology

From color +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌlɚfəl/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌləfəl/
Audio (US): (file)

Adjective

colorful (comparative more colorful, superlative most colorful) (American spelling)

Possessing prominent and varied colors.
- 1895, The Annual of the British School at Athens:
  It was a colourful vase with red and white hoops on the lid, and red bands above and below the main frieze. These bands also carry a metope pattern in white of triple lines and blobs, which can just be distinguished on the photographs.
Interesting, multifaceted, energetic, distinctive.
- 1895, H. Walter Staner, Henry Sturmey, The Autocar:
  One of the most colourful people in motor racing, he writes in a colourful manner.
(euphemistic) Profane, obscene, offensive (usually in the phrase colourful language).
- 2002, news.bbc.co.uk
  Hussain celebrated reaching his ton with a gesture towards the media centre, pointing to the number three on the back of his shirt and offering some colourful language.

Synonyms

(possessing prominent and varied colors): motley, multicolored, polychromatic; see also Thesaurus:multicolored

Derived terms

Translations

possessing prominent and varied colors

Albanian: shumëngjyrësh (sq)
Armenian: գունագեղ (hy) (gunageġ)
Breton: livek (br)
Bulgarian: цветист (bg) (cvetist), колоритен (bg) (koloriten), пъ́стър (bg) (pǎ́stǎr)
Catalan: colorit m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 五顏六色／五颜六色 (ng⁵ ngaan⁴ luk⁶ sik¹), 花哩碌 (faa¹ li¹ luk¹)

Mandarin: 豔／艳 (zh) (yàn)
Cornish: liwus
Czech: barevný (cs), pestrý (cs)
Danish: farverig
Dutch: kleurrijk (nl)
Esperanto: bunta (eo)
Finnish: värikäs (fi)
French: coloré (fr)
Galician: colorido
Georgian: ჭრელი (ka) (č̣reli)
German: bunt (de), kunterbunt (de), farbig (de), farbenprächtig, farbenfroh (de), farbenreich
Greek: πολύχρωμος (el) (polýchromos)
Hindi: रंगीन (hi) (raṅgīn)
Hungarian: színes (hu)
Icelandic: litríkur (is)
Ido: koloroza (io)
Irish: dathannach, ildaite
Italian: colorato (it), variopinto (it), vivace (it)
Japanese: カラフル (ja)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ئاڵوواڵا (alluwalla), ڕەنگاوڕەنگ (rengawrreng)

Northern Kurdish: rengîn (ku)
Latin: colōrātus m
Manx: yl-ghaait
Norwegian:
Bokmål: fargerik (no)

Nynorsk: fargerik
Persian: رنگارنگ (fa) (rangârang)
Plautdietsch: bunt
Polish: kolorowy (pl), wielobarwny (pl), barwisty, wielokolorowy (pl), różnobarwny (pl), różnokolorowy (pl), tęczowy (pl)
Portuguese: colorido (pt)
Romanian: colorat (ro), multicolor (ro)
Russian: разноцве́тный (ru) (raznocvétnyj), цвета́стый (ru) (cvetástyj) (rare word), я́ркий (ru) (járkij) (bright)
Serbo-Croatian: šaren (sh), raznobojan (sh)
Sinhalese: වර්ණවත් (si) (warṇawat)
Spanish: lleno (es) m, de color, lleno de color
Swahili: ya rangi nyingi
Swedish: färgglad (sv), färgrik (sv)
Telugu: రంగురంగుల (raṅguraṅgula)
Turkish: renkli (tr), alaca (tr), rengarenk (tr)
Ukrainian: різнокольоро́вий (riznokolʹoróvyj), барви́стий (uk) (barvýstyj)
Urdu: رنگین (raṅgīn)
Vietnamese: rực rỡ (vi), sặc sỡ (vi)
Volapük: kölagik (vo)
Welsh: lliwgar (cy)
Yiddish: פֿילפֿאַרביק (filfarbik)
Zazaki: kelebelek c

interesting, multifaceted

Bulgarian: интересен (bg) (interesen), колоритен (bg) (koloriten)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 豐富多彩／丰富多彩 (zh) (fēngfùduōcǎi)
Danish: farverig
Finnish: värikäs (fi)
French: coloré (fr)
German: farbig (de)
Polish: barwisty, barwny (pl)
Romanian: colorat (ro)
Russian: колори́тный (ru) (kolorítnyj), я́ркий (ru) (járkij)
Spanish: de color
Ukrainian: колори́тний (uk) (kolorýtnyj), яскра́вий (uk) (jaskrávyj)
Vietnamese: đầy nghị lực, đầy sinh lực

(euphemistic) profane

Danish: blomstrende
Finnish: värikäs (fi)
Spanish: florido (es), colorado (es)
Vietnamese: báng bổ (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Hindi: ^{(please verify)} रंगीन (hi) (raṅgīn)