红楼

[pprendeville]

Anyone know the origins of this word or the background to it. From Pleco it says "hónglóu

P.W. women's living quarters ". Not sure what the connection is though with red.

[liuzhou]

It's a reference to the novel, A Dream of Red Mansions / Red Chamber (红楼梦). In the book, the women's apartments are in a red building - (红楼).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber

[skylee]

Not really. The term existed well before that according to the Taiwan MOE Dictionary (see attached screenshot). IMHO, 紅 may refer to 紅妝 the make-up/dress (see word 27 here), 樓 the place they live/stay.

[liuzhou]

Well, I'm sure the expression "red building" existed since time immemorial. However, the popular usage today is nearly always referencing or alluding to the novel.

[Tiana]

That's right (skylee's view). The word 红颜 referring to women should be in existence long before 红楼梦.

[Glenn]

(see word 27 here)

It's also listed under #4 as an adjective:

(4) Red referring to women: 紅妝，紅樓

[rob07]

It is not just women's quarters, but the quarters of rich young unmarried girls. Red is the glamour colour in Chinese culture, so 红楼 fits pretty well with this, as does 红妆, both metaphorically and literally (rich people's houses were generally red-plastered but ordinary people's houses were grey). Rich young girls have always been glamorous, in China and elsewhere.

Most common modern usage is the novel 红楼梦 as Liuzhou says, but the title of the novel comes from the meaning of the word 红楼 and not the other way around. You can see from Skylee's link that the usage of 红楼 goes back to the Tang dynasty and 红楼梦 is a Qing dynasty novel. And the women in 红楼梦 do not all live together in a red building.