Etymology

red

R1E1D2

Today it means: The color of the setting sun, blood, and strawberries; the color which is evoked by the longest visible wavelengths (between about 625–740 nm), and a primary additive color. Full definition →

First used 21st c.Middle English red ← Old English rēad ← Proto-West Germanic *raud
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red · noun, adjective, interjection1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rewdʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rowdʰós
  3. Proto-Germanic*raudaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*raud
  5. Old Englishrēad
  6. Middle Englishred
  7. English todayred

Inherited from Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ- + *-ós. Cognates See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud, Swedish röd, Faroese reyður, Icelandic rauður; also Welsh rhudd, Latin ruber, rufus, Tocharian A rtär, Tocharian B ratre, Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), Albanian pruth (“redhead”), Russian ру́дый (rúdyj) ("red", "redhaired"). Czech rudý, Lithuanian raúdas, Finnish rauta, Estonian raud, Serbo-Croatian riđ ("reddish", "red"), Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬛𐬌𐬙𐬀 (raoidita), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá, “red, bloody”).

red · verb2

From the archaic verb rede.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishred all →

reedrede

First known use, by meaning

  • 21st c. The U.S. Republican Party.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.