濃淡可用于形容顏色、氣味、滋味等的深淺、強弱程度。在文藝領域中，濃淡可指繪畫色彩的濃淡、文學語言的華美與簡淡、藝術風格的濃艷與清淡以及抒情方式的強烈與平淡等含義。

“濃”與“淡”是辯證的存在，比如，中國畫的筆墨一向有濃有淡，濃不至于濁穢，淡不至于虛緲，尤其水墨畫更注重墨色的濃淡，以表現陰陽、向背、虛實、疏密、遠近等。理想的藝術境界是濃淡得宜，其他藝術形式對于濃淡的要求與此一致。

This term is used to describe varying degrees of denseness with regard to color, smell or taste. In the fields of art and literature, it refers to the denseness or lightness of a painting's color, ornateness or plainness of literary language, boldness or restraint in artistic style, or to directness or opaqueness of emotional expression.

Denseness and lightness are relative to each other. In traditional Chinese painting, for example, the colors chosen can either be dense or light, but they should not be so dense as to be crude or so light as to be insipid. Ink wash painting pays particular attention to the denseness or lightness of color, aiming to achieve a balance between the two. This implies a harmony between the bright and the shady, the front and the rear views, the tangible and the intangible, density and sparsity, and the long- and short-range views. An ideal painting expects denser and lighter hues to set each other off beautifully. This requirement applies also to other genres of art.

引例 Citations：

◎篇章戶牖，左右相瞰。辭如川流，溢則泛濫。權衡損益，斟酌濃淡。芟繁剪穢，弛于負擔。（劉勰《文心雕龍·熔裁》）

篇章好像門窗，左右相互配合。文辭好像河流，水滿了會泛濫。衡量內容如何減少或增多，斟酌文辭如何加濃或減淡。刪去多余剪除雜亂，使文章減少負累。

A piece of writing is like the shutters on a window, with the left and right sides balanced and well matched. Wording is like a river — if too full, it will flood. We must weigh to see if it needs abridgements or additions, or if it is too ornate or too plain. Any superfluous part should be deleted and any jumbled mass cleaned up so that the composition may not be weighted down. (Liu Xie: The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons)

◎此卷寂寥簡短，不過數筆，而淺深濃淡，姿態橫生，使人應接不暇，蓋是其得意筆。（尤袤《跋米元暉〈瀟湘圖卷〉》）

這幅畫意境靜謐蕭索、尺幅短小，不過寥寥數筆，但是用墨和著色有淺有深、有濃有淡，云霧、山水等各種姿態紛紛呈現，讓人目不暇接，應該是他的得意之作。

The artistic conception of this painting is tranquil and detached. Although small in size and sketchy, it intersperses stronger and milder hues, and heavier and lighter patches. Clouds, mists, mountains, and rivers present themselves in a variety of ways, keeping the eye busy taking it all in at once. It must be the painter's own favorite piece of work. (You Mao: Postscript to Mi Youren's "Landscape Painting of Hills and Rivers in Hunan")

推薦：教育部 國家語委

供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社

責任編輯：錢耐安