My son received a gift from his classmate the other day. It involved painting, so needless to say, he liked it very much.

Look at how vibrant and colourful it is. This reminds me of a Chinese idiom: 五颜六色.

It’s actually the first idiom I taught my son. 五 and 六 refer to five and six respectively. 颜 and 色 both mean colour. 颜 has an additional meaning; it can denote a face.

I’m sure you can infer that 五颜六色 means ‘colourful’. Because of the inclusion of the word 颜, which means ‘multifaceted’, it also means ‘a wide range of’.

Some of you will be keen to learn about the origin. I did some Baidu-ing (that’s like the China version of Google). Apparently, a classical author named Li Ruzhen wrote a book titled "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" during the Qing Dynasty. In the 14th chapter, she mused about how the clouds different individuals rode on came in different colours and shapes. (“惟各人所登之云，五颜六色，其形不一”)

Now, I don’t know why these ancient people were riding on clouds in the first place, but when I find out, I will be sure to update you guys!