色彩
しきさい · shikisai · JLPT N1 · noun
color
🎨 色 = color + 彩 = hue or tint, so 色彩 doubles up to mean color
色 is the everyday word for color. 彩 adds the sense of tints and painted hues. Stacked together, they name color as a general concept.
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.