colorful

English

Alternative forms

• colourful (Commonwealth English)

Etymology

color +‎ -ful

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌlɚfəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌləfəl/

Adjective

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

1. 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.

2. Interesting, multifaceted, energetic, distinctive.
   • 1895, H. Walter Staner and Henry Sturmey, The Autocar:

     One of the most colourful people in motor racing, he writes in a colourful manner.

3. (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

Translations

possessing prominent and varied colors

• Albanian: shumëngjyrësh (sq)
• Armenian: բազմերանգ (hy) (bazmerang)
• Breton: livek (br)
• Bulgarian: цветист (bg) (cvetist), колоритен (bg) (koloriten), пъ́стър (bg) (pǎ́stǎr)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 五顏六色／五颜六色 (ng⁵ ngaan⁴ luk⁶ sik¹), 五颜六色 (ng⁵ ngaan⁴ luk⁶ sik¹), 花哩碌 (faa¹ li¹ luk¹)

  Mandarin: 豔／艳 (zh) (yàn), 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 (č̣reli)
• German: bunt (de), farbig (de), ^{(please verify)} farbenprächtig, farbenfroh (de), ^{(please verify)} kunterbunt (de)
• Greek: πολύχρωμος (el) (polýchromos)
• Hindi: रंगीन (hi) (raṅgīn)
• Hungarian: színes (hu)
• Icelandic: litríkur (is)
• Irish: dathannach, ildaite
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: colorato (it)
• Japanese: カラフル (ja)
• Kurdish: , ,
• Latin: colōrātus m
• Manx: yl-ghaait
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fargerik

  Nynorsk: fargerik

• Persian: رنگارنگ (fa) (rangârang)
• Polish: kolorowy (pl), wielobarwny (pl)
• Portuguese: colorido (pt)
• Russian: ^{(please verify)} разноцве́тный (ru) (raznocvétnyj), ^{(please verify)} цвета́стый (ru) (cvetástyj), я́ркий (ru) (járkij)
• 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)
• Welsh: lliwgar (cy)

interesting, multifaceted

• Bulgarian: интересен (bg) (interesen), колоритен (bg) (koloriten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 豐富多彩／丰富多彩 (zh) (fēngfùduōcǎi), 丰富多彩 (zh) (fēngfùduōcǎi)

• Danish: farverig
• Finnish: värikäs (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: coloré (fr)
• Russian: колори́тный (ru) (kolorítnyj), я́ркий (ru) (járkij)
• Spanish: de color
• Vietnamese: đầy nghị lực, đầy sinh lực

profane

• Danish: blomstrende
• Finnish: värikäs (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: florido (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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}