彩虹

cǎihóng
noun HSK 6 #6,126

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 rainbow

Characters

Literally 'colorful rainbow.' 虹 alone means rainbow - notice it has the insect radical 虫, because ancient Chinese believed rainbows were giant sky serpents drinking from rivers.

Examples

HSK 5
Yǔhòu tiānkōng chūxiàn le yí dào cǎihóng.
A rainbow appeared in the sky after the rain.
HSK 6
Bù jīnglì fēngyǔ, zěnme jiàn cǎihóng?
How can you see a rainbow without going through storms?

Tips

culture
不经历风雨,怎么见彩虹 (no storms, no rainbow) is from the song 真心英雄 and is one of China's most quoted motivational phrases - the Chinese equivalent of 'no pain, no gain.'

Stroke Order

彩 cǎi
虹 hóng