近朱者赤，近墨者黑

jìn​zhū​zhě​chì​jìn​mò​zhě​hēi

one takes the color of one's company

you are the product of your environment; proximity to good things makes one good, proximity to bad things makes one bad

近 (literal) → 近 · jìn · near 朱 (literal) → 朱 · zhū · vermilion 者 (bound) → 者 · zhě · -er 赤 (literal) → 赤 · chì · red ， (non_chinese) 近 (literal) → 近 · jìn · near 墨 (literal) → 墨 · mò · ink 者 (bound) → 者 · zhě · -er 黑 (literal) → 黑 · hēi · black

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM

近朱者赤，近墨者黑

jìn​zhū​zhě​chì​jìn​mò​zhě​hēi

influenced by one's company

Literally meaning those who handle cinnabar are stained red and those who work with ink are stained black, this idiom describes how a person's character or habits are influenced by the people they associate with or the environment they are in.

近 (literal) → 近 · jìn · to approach 朱 (literal) → 朱 · zhū · vermilion 者 (bound) → 者 · zhě · -er 赤 (literal) → 赤 · chì · red ， (non_chinese) 近 (literal) → 近 · jìn · to approach 墨 (literal) → 墨 · mò · ink 者 (bound) → 者 · zhě · -er 黑 (literal) → 黑 · hēi · black

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM