翠绿
cuì lǜ · HSK 7
emerald green
🐦💎 翠 = kingfisher jade + 绿 green — the bird whose feathers define emerald
翠 originally names the kingfisher, prized for vivid blue-green plumage. Paired with 绿 (green), it evokes the rich saturated green of jade or emerald.
绿 — silk radical 纟 + 录 (phonetic)
绿 is a phono-semantic compound. The silk radical 纟 (糸) signals the original sense of a dyed silk color, while 录 supplies the sound. It came to mean the green color produced by such dyes, and now refers to green in general.