Abstract Color is everywhere in our daily life. In the human language color words show unique charm and let people take notice. Color terms play an indispensable role in our life. Almost every language has color terms, in addition to referring to the color, they also stimulate association and imply social connotation. Associative meaning of color terms is a type of bonus or implied meaning cast by the specific national culture. Language is endowed with the function of carrying culture. Due to the different living habits, religious beliefs, geographical locations, cultural psychology and ways of thinking, the same color terms represent distinct social and cultural connotations in Chinese and Western languages. Therefore, in the promotion of cross-cultural communication, it is necessary to understand both similarities and differences in language and culture between China and the West. 56525

     This paper mainly compares the differences of color terms and analyses the causes for the differences between Chinese and Western culture through a lot of examples, so as to better the understanding of different cultures and promote cross-cultural communication.

Key words: color terms; cultural differences; symbolic meaning; causes

摘要颜色在日常生活中处处可见，在人类语言中，颜色词语表现出独特的魅力，令人刮目相看。颜色词在我们的生活中起着不可或缺的作用。几乎每种语言都有颜色词，除了指代颜色，它们还能够激发想象，表达丰富的社会内涵。颜色词的联想意义是由特定的民族文化所铸造的一种附加的或隐含的意义。语言具有承载文化的功能，由于不同的生活习惯，宗教信仰，地理位置，文化心理以及思维方式，相同的颜色词在中西两种语言中却代表着不同的社会文化内涵。因此，在促进跨文化交流时，了解中西两种语言和文化的相同和不同之处是十分有必要的。

本篇论文主要通过大量的例子，比较颜色词在中西方文化中的差异并分析差异产生的原因，以增加对不同文化的了解，促进跨文化交流。

毕业论文关键词：颜色词；文化差异；象征意义；原因

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Contrast of Color Terms in Chinese and Western Cultures 2

3.1 Definition of the Color Terms 2

3.2 The Same Color with the Same Meaning 2

3.3 The Same Color with Different Meanings 3

3.4 Different Colors with the Same Meaning 4

4. Differences in Symbolism of Color Terms 5

4.1 Black 5

4.2 Yellow 5

4.3 Red 6

4.4 White 6

5. Reasons for Differences in Color Terms 7

5.1 Religious Beliefs 7

5.2 Living Environment 7

5.3 History and Culture 8

6. Conclusion 8

Works Cited 10 

1. Introduction

Human beings have created different color terms to describe our lives. Color terms exist everywhere in our lives. But even the symbolic meanings expressed by the same color are differentiated from one another in various languages due to differences in geographical environment, economic development, religious beliefs, historical culture and living customs. All languages have words to identify particular colors, but there is usually a special subset of these words known as basic color terms. According to Kay and McDaniel (1978), the “primary colors”, i.e. “black, white, red, yellow, green and blue” are barely excluded from any investigator’s work. The six major color terms are people's perception of colors in the world. They are more significance than other colors.  浅析颜色词在中西方文化中的差异:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_61053.html