白色
báisè · HSK 2
white
⚪ 白 = white/blank + 色 = color; literally 'white-color'
白 by itself already means white, and 色 means color or hue, so 白色 is the explicit 'white color' compound. The 色 suffix is the same one in 红色 (red) and 蓝色 (blue) — a regular pattern for naming colors.
白 — pictograph; resembles 日 (sun) with a stroke on top
白 is generally considered a pictograph, traditionally explained as depicting the sun rising with a ray of light above it, hence the meaning 'white' or 'bright.' Some scholars instead see it as a drawing of a thumbnail or an acorn. From 'bright' it extended to 'clear,' 'plain,' and 'to state plainly.'
色 — person 人 (top) + kneeling figure 卩 (bottom)
Originally a pictograph showing one person above another, traditionally interpreted as depicting facial expressions or intimate posture between two people. The earliest meaning was 'facial expression' or 'countenance,' which extended to 'appearance' and eventually 'color' (the look of things). The 'shǎi' reading is a colloquial variant used for everyday color words.