Gǔdài zuìfàn chuān zhě sè de yīfu yǐ shì chéngjiè.
In ancient times, condemned convicts wore ochre-coloured robes as a mark of punishment.
Tips
usage
zhě is mainly literary and technical. In painting and geology, 赭石 names a specific iron-oxide pigment (ochre) widely used in traditional landscape painting for rendering rocks and earth. As a colour term, 赭色 denotes a deep reddish-brown. A historical detail worth knowing: in Han-era China, convicts wore 赭衣 (ochre robes), making the colour a literary shorthand for the prison population — hence the chengyu-style phrase 赭衣塞路 'ochre robes block the roads', meaning prisoners overflow the highways.
register
Outside of art history, geology, and literary prose, 赭 is rare. For ordinary reddish-brown, modern speakers say 红褐色 or 棕红色.
Right phonetic 者 — exact tonal match supplying the zhě reading. The same phonetic anchors a large family: 都 (all), 诸 (all; various), 猪 (pig), 煮 (boil), 署 (office). Recognising 者 as a sound-bearer unlocks all of them.
