coloré
The English phrase colorful is translated into French as coloré.
The word coloré is used to describe something that possesses prominent and varied colors. For example, you can use une robe colorée to mean a colorful dress or des maisons colorées to mean colorful houses. To describe a palette of vibrant colors, you would say une palette de couleurs vives.
Meaning: possessing prominent and varied colors (adj)
Which one should you use?
While coloré is a standard term, there are more specific ways to describe color. Use chatoyant if you are describing something with iridescent or shimmering colors, such as certain fabrics or precious stones. If you want to describe a variety of colors in an artistic or decorative context, bigarré is a suitable alternative.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form of the adjective changes to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Use coloré for masculine singular nouns, colorée for feminine singular nouns, colorés for masculine plural nouns and colorées for feminine plural nouns.
Did you know?
- In French, coloré is often used metaphorically to describe someone's language or a story that is 'spicy' or contains slang and coarse words.
- While 'colorful' in English can describe a vivid personality, French speakers use the phrase haut en couleur to describe a flamboyant or eccentric person.
- The word vif used in couleurs vives literally means 'alive', treating vibrant colors as if they are living organisms.
Examples in context
- L'amour rend le monde plus coloré.Love makes the world more colorful.This sentence shows how the word coloré can be used to describe the world in a metaphorical sense.Tatoeba #11526290 by Rovo, translation #11523942 by shekitten
- Les toucans ont de grands becs colorés.Toucans have large, colorful beaks.This sentence uses coloré to describe the beaks of toucans.Tatoeba #11939173 by lbdx, translation #6115094 by Hybrid
- Notre jardin est plein de fleurs colorées.Our garden is full of colorful flowers.This sentence demonstrates the use of coloré when describing flowers in a garden.Tatoeba #6865643 by GB3, translation #2895194 by AlanF_US
- La fête était très colorée avec des ballons et des guirlandes.The party was very colorful with balloons and streamers.
- Le paysage alpin est magnifique avec ses fleurs chatoyantes en été.The Alpine landscape is beautiful with its shimmering flowers in summer.
- 4 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Lucas are at an art gallery.
- LéaRegarde ce tableau, il est très coloré !Look at this painting, it is very colorful!
- LucasOui, elle est vraiment belle, cette œuvre.Yes, this work is truly beautiful.
- LéaLucas, tu préfères les tons sobres ?Lucas, do you prefer sober tones?
- LucasParfois, mais ce style coloré est génial.Sometimes, but this colorful style is great.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry coloré, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
