彩笔

彩筆

cǎibǐ

noun #44,322

Measure Word

一支彩笔 zhī

Meanings

1 colored pen; colored marker; colored pencil
2 (classical) literary talent

Characters

Examples

小朋友用彩笔画了一幅画。

Xiǎopéngyǒu yòng cǎibǐ huà le yì fú huà.

The kids drew a picture with colored pens.

请准备一盒十二色彩笔。

Qǐng zhǔnbèi yì hé shí'èr sè cǎibǐ.

Please have a box of twelve-color markers ready.

Tips

culture

In classical allusion, 彩笔 evokes Jiang Yan (江淹), whose literary talent was said to have been a ‘multi-colored brush’ he dreamed up — and later dreamed back — giving us the chengyu 江郎才尽. Modern usage is literal: a colored pen.

Stroke Order

彩 cǎi

笔 bǐ