眼红(yǎn hóng): Green-eyed or Red-eyed?

Colors sometimes can express certain feelings, such as a blue mood or a black day. However, colors can also relate to emotions and can be expressed differently in from one language to another. In Chinese, the word “眼红(yǎn hóng) ” is an example of this.

In English, there are terms like “green-eyed,” “green-eyed monster” to express that someone is envious or jealous after seeing another person's success, wealth, fame, good luck etc. However, in Chinese, an impression often used to describe envy or jealousy is “眼红(yǎnhóng)”- literally “red-eyed.”

“眼红(yǎnhóng)” can be used as an adjective, meaning to be envious or jealous.

                 dà wěi mǎi de xīn fáng zǐ yòu dà yòu piāo liàng ，wǒ hěn yǎn hóng
Xiao Lin：大伟买的新房子又大又漂亮，我很眼红。
                 Da Wei bought a big and beautiful house, which made me very jealous.

              bié  yǎn hóng  nà xiē  yǒu  qián  rén
Simon：别 眼红 那些 有 钱 人。
             Stop envying rich people!

                  nà nǐ huì yǎn hóng shí me ne ？
Xiao Lin：那你会 眼红 什么 呢？
                  What do you envy?

              kàn dào  bié rén  jié hūn ， wǒ  cái huì yǎn hóng
Simon：看到 别人 结婚， 我 才会 眼红。
              I’m only envious seeing others getting married!

In addition, “眼红(yǎnhóng)” can also be used to describe someone who is or looks furious. For example:

Chóurén xiāngjiàn, fènwài yǎnhóng.
仇人 相见， 分外 眼红。
When enemies come face to face, their eyes blaze with hatred.