色々
いろいろ · iroiro · JLPT N5 · na-adj
various
🎨 色々 = colour + colour: many colours, so many kinds = various
色 (iro) means colour, and 々 is the repeat mark, so the word is literally iro-iro, colour-colour. Doubling a noun in Japanese often signals plurality: many colours became the everyday word for all sorts of things.
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.