金发
jīnfà
The English phrase blonde is translated into Chinese as 金发 (jīnfà).
金发 is used to describe someone having pale yellow or golden hair. A common four-character idiom, 金发碧眼, is frequently used to describe the stereotypical appearance of Westerners, meaning blonde hair and blue eyes.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 金发 is composed of 金 (jīn), meaning 'gold' and 发 (fà), meaning 'hair'.
Which one should you use?
While 金发 is the general term for blonde, you can be more specific about the shade of hair: use 浅金色头发 for light golden hair, 深金色头发 for dark golden hair and 灰金色头发 for ashen golden hair.
How do you pronounce it?
jīnfà
Did you know?
- While 金发碧眼 describes a Western ideal, the word 碧 specifically refers to a shade of green or turquoise. This reflects how early Chinese writers perceived blue eyes as being like precious jade.
- Because natural blonde hair is rare in East Asia, the phrase 金发 is often used as a shorthand marker for 'foreign' or 'Western' in literature, even if the person is not actually blonde.
- In some contexts, if someone has very bright, almost unnaturally yellow hair, a person might use the word 黄 (huáng) instead of 金 (jīn) to describe it.
Examples in context
- 他想找一位金发碧眼的欧洲女人。I want to find a blonde, blue-eyed European woman.This sentence is useful for seeing how to use 金发 in a description.Tatoeba #1165961 by sysko, translation #1213523 by alec
- 他有金色头发。He has blonde hair.
- 她是一个金发美女。She is a blonde beauty.
- 岳阳的女孩子经常染浅金色头发。Girls in Yueyang often dye their hair light blonde.
- 那个女孩留着金发。nà ge nǚ hái liú zhe jīn fà.That girl has blonde hair.
- 她有一头漂亮的金发。tā yǒu yī tóu piào liang de jīn fà.She has a head of beautiful blonde hair.
Example conversation
Two friends are looking at a photo in a magazine.
- 梓涵 Zihan你看，这个模特是金发。nǐ kàn, zhè ge mó tè shì jīn fà.Look, this model is blonde.
- 志强 Zhiqiang她的金发真的很亮。tā de jīn fà zhēn de hěn liàng.Her blonde hair is really bright.
- 梓涵 Zihan志强，你觉得她好看吗？zhì qiáng, nǐ jué de tā hǎo kàn ma?Zhiqiang, do you think she is pretty?
- 志强 Zhiqiang我觉得她很有气质。wǒ jué de tā hěn yǒu qì zhì.I think she has a lot of elegance.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
