colorful

English

Alternative forms

colourful (Commonwealth English)

Etymology

color +‎ -ful

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌlɚfəl/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌləfəl/

Adjective

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

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.
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.
(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)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 五顏六色, 五颜六色 (ng⁵ ngaan⁴ luk⁶ sik¹), 花哩碌 (faa¹ li¹ luk¹)
Mandarin: 豔 (zh), 艳 (zh) (yàn)
Cornish: liwus
Czech: barevný (cs), pestrý (cs)
Danish: farverig
Dutch: kleurrijk (nl)
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

Italian: colorato (it)
Japanese: カラフル (ja)
Kurdish: rengîn (ku), ئاڵوواڵا‎ (ku) (alluwalla), ڕه‌نگاوڕه‌نگ‎ (ku) (rengawrreng)
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)
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 (zh), 丰富多彩 (zh) (fēngfùduōcǎi)
Danish: farverig
Finnish: värikäs (fi)

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)

Spanish: florido (es)
Vietnamese: báng bổ (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Hindi: ^{(please verify)} रंगीन (hi) (raṅgīn)