蓝(lán) - blue in Mandarin

蓝 (lán) means blue. As with every Mandarin colour word it works as a stative verb, so a predicate needs a degree adverb: 这条裙子很蓝 (zhè tiáo qún hěn lán), this skirt is very blue, rather than a bare 这条裙子蓝.

Directly before a noun it can stand alone, especially in set compounds: 蓝衬衣 (lán chènyī), a blue shirt, though 蓝色 (lánsè), literally "blue colour", is the safer and more common choice, particularly with 的 (de): 蓝色的衬衣 (lánsè de chènyī).

The character's top half, 艹, is the grass radical, a nod to indigo, the plant dye that originally produced the colour before synthetic dyes existed.