绿(lǜ) - green in Mandarin

绿 (lǜ) means green. It behaves like every Mandarin colour word: as a predicate it usually needs 是...的 (shì...de) or a degree adverb, so 这件夹克是绿的 (zhè jiàn jiākè shì lǜ de), this jacket is green, reads naturally, while a bare 这件夹克绿 does not.

Before a noun the fuller 绿色 (lǜsè), literally "green colour", is the everyday choice: 绿色的衣服 (lǜsè de yīfu), green clothes. 绿 (lǜ) on its own before a noun is more common in fixed compounds, such as 绿茶 (lǜchá), green tea, than in free combination.

绿 (lǜ) also carries a specific cultural warning worth knowing: 戴绿帽子 (dài lǜ màozi), literally "to wear a green hat", is a set idiom meaning a man has been cheated on by his wife, so green hats are avoided as gifts and fashion choices in a way that has nothing to do with the colour itself.