“…On the other hand, there is a distinct conceptual correspondence between the meaning 'In vain/For no reason' and the absence of hue in the white color, as the lack of intended incentives or outcomes (in vain) can be associated with the lack of hue in color perception. This issue has been discussed in a corpus-based behavioral profiles study (Dou & Liu, 2023), focusing on the mapping relations between the three perceptual properties of white color (absence of hue, highest brightness, and zero colorfulness) and the metaphorical extensions of bái. It is suggested that the meaning 'In vain/For no reason' derives from the perceptual propertyabsence of hue, whereas the other two meanings, 'Sorrowful/Woeful' and 'Inexperience/Untalented', are associated with the property of zero colorfulness in terms of the saturation dimension.…”