蓝
blue
HSK level
- Pinyin
- lán
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 13
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 蓝
蓝 is written with 13 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 蓝 mean?
蓝 (lán) is the Chinese color word for blue — the color of the sky, the sea, and jeans.
As a color adjective, it almost always combines with 色 (sè, 'color') to form 蓝色 (lán sè, 'the color blue / blue-colored'), which is what you actually use to describe an object: 蓝色的衣服 (blue clothes), not 蓝衣服. Bare 蓝 stays in compounds and proper names: 天蓝 (sky blue), 海蓝 (sea blue), 蓝牙 (Bluetooth, literally 'blue tooth').
Two notes for English speakers: first, Classical Chinese sometimes used 青 (qīng) to cover both blue and green, which is why you'll still see 青 for 'dark blue / blue-green' in poetry and place names. Second, the color does NOT carry the 'sad' connotation that 'blue' has in English — 'feeling blue' is 心情不好 (xīnqíng bù hǎo), never 蓝.
Hear 蓝 in real episodes
蓝 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
他们说：蓝的，是男孩。
They said: blue means a boy.
They Dyed the White Doves Blue and Sent Them Up for a Gender Reveal — Days Later They Turned Up by the River, and the Blue Would Not Wash Off
Example sentences
今天天很蓝。
Jīntiān tiān hěn lán.
The sky is very blue today.
spoken
我喜欢蓝色。
Wǒ xǐhuan lán sè.
I like the color blue.
neutral
她穿了一件蓝色的衣服。
Tā chuān le yí jiàn lán sè de yīfu.
She wore a blue piece of clothing.
neutral
海是蓝的，天也是蓝的。
Hǎi shì lán de, tiān yě shì lán de.
The sea is blue, and so is the sky.
written
Common phrases with 蓝
Synonyms
青 is older and broader — covers blue, green, and dark colors depending on context (青天 = blue sky; 青草 = green grass). For everyday modern color talk, use 蓝 for blue and 绿 for green; 青 stays in fixed expressions.
Don't confuse 蓝 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 蓝 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 蓝 in 1 episode. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.