脸色
liǎnsè · HSK 5
complexion
😐 脸色 = face + color
脸 means face, 色 means color. Together: the color of one's face — i.e. complexion or facial expression. A flushed or pale face reveals mood, so 脸色 came to mean countenance or the look someone is giving.
脸 — flesh radical 月 (肉) + 僉 qiān (phonetic)
脸 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 月 is the 'flesh/body' radical (from 肉), signaling a body part. The right side 僉 supplies the sound. Originally 臉 meant the cheeks or area below the eyes; over time it broadened to mean the whole face. 脸 is the simplified form.
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.