<p>丰富多彩 is never used in its literal sense. Always figurative. It describes  richness, diversity, colourfulness and etc. E.g 我们的生活丰富多彩。春节联欢晚会的节目丰富多彩。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-07T09:21:22.147Z
2019-10-07T09:21:22.147Z
dan
<p>丰富多彩 is a combination of "丰富" (rich) and "多姿多彩" (colorful) </p>

<p>丰富 is mainly used for describing something with rich substance or contents;  多姿多彩 is mainly used for describing something "colorful: entertaining; enjoyable"</p>

<p>Things that you can describe as 丰富多彩 (rich and colorful) including:</p>

<p>文笔，画功，剧情，生活，节目，故事 (Writing, drawing, plot, life, show, story) -- All these terms involve substance and enjoyment</p>

<p>文笔丰富多彩 (rich and colorful writing) - your writings is rich in substance and have a lot of flair </p>

<p>画功丰富多彩 (rich and colorful drawing) - your drawings have a lot of contents and vibrant</p>

<p>剧情丰富多彩 (rich and colorful movies plot)- the plot of the movies is full of substance and entertaining</p>

<p>To be honest, I rather say 剧情丰富,多姿多彩 to make  the whole sentence idiomatic </p>

<p>丰富 (rich) can be used literally (abundant) or figuratively (rich)  </p>

<p>多姿多彩 (colorful) is mostly used figuratively  </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-07T09:04:47.513Z
2019-10-07T09:38:20.873Z
2019-10-07T09:38:20.873Z
Tang Ho
<p>A while back, my teacher asked me to use <a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%B0%E5%AF%8C%E5%A4%9A%E5%BD%A9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">丰富多彩</a> ("richly colorful") in a sentence, but it wasn't received particularly well.  The relevant part in my writing was</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...丰富多彩地环境</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and she said 各种颜色 was more appropriate here.  (And it should be 的 instead of 地.)  I'm still quite uncomfortable with this term, particularly since it's an idiom.  I'm confused about both when it's suitable to use, and the surrounding grammar patterns.</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: What kinds of things can be described as 丰富多彩, and how do I describe them?</p>

<p>My impression from examples online is this it's not to be used to literally mean colorful:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E6%96%87%E6%98%8E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">世界文明</a><strong>丰富多彩</strong>，...<br>
  ... 让我的<a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">生活</a><strong>丰富多彩</strong>。<br>
  ... 我会设计<strong>丰富多彩</strong>，形式多样的<a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8" rel="nofollow noreferrer">活动</a> ...</p>
</blockquote>

<grammar><usage><idioms>
What kinds of things can be described as 丰富多彩 (richly colorful), and how do I describe them?
# What kinds of things can be described as 丰富多彩 (richly colorful), and how do I describe them?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-07)

A while back, my teacher asked me to use [丰富多彩](http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%B0%E5%AF%8C%E5%A4%9A%E5%BD%A9) ("richly colorful") in a sentence, but it wasn't received particularly well. The relevant part in my writing was

> ...丰富多彩地环境

and she said 各种颜色 was more appropriate here. (And it should be 的 instead of 地.) I'm still quite uncomfortable with this term, particularly since it's an idiom. I'm confused about both when it's suitable to use, and the surrounding grammar patterns.

**Question**: What kinds of things can be described as 丰富多彩, and how do I describe them?

My impression from examples online is this it's not to be used to literally mean colorful:

> [世界文明](http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E6%96%87%E6%98%8E)**丰富多彩**，...  
> ... 让我的[生活](http://youdao.com/w/%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB)**丰富多彩**。  
> ... 我会设计**丰富多彩**，形式多样的[活动](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8) ...

**Tags:** grammar, usage, idioms


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-10-07. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

丰富多彩 is a combination of "丰富" (rich) and "多姿多彩" (colorful)

丰富 is mainly used for describing something with rich substance or contents; 多姿多彩 is mainly used for describing something "colorful: entertaining; enjoyable"

Things that you can describe as 丰富多彩 (rich and colorful) including:

文笔，画功，剧情，生活，节目，故事 (Writing, drawing, plot, life, show, story) -- All these terms involve substance and enjoyment

文笔丰富多彩 (rich and colorful writing) - your writings is rich in substance and have a lot of flair

画功丰富多彩 (rich and colorful drawing) - your drawings have a lot of contents and vibrant

剧情丰富多彩 (rich and colorful movies plot)- the plot of the movies is full of substance and entertaining

To be honest, I rather say 剧情丰富,多姿多彩 to make the whole sentence idiomatic

丰富 (rich) can be used literally (abunusername_1t) or figuratively (rich)

多姿多彩 (colorful) is mostly used figuratively


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### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-07. Score: 3

丰富多彩 is never used in its literal sense. Always figurative. It describes richness, diversity, colourfulness and etc. E.g 我们的生活丰富多彩。春节联欢晚会的节目丰富多彩。


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