Etymology

ruddy

R1U1D2D2Y4

Today it means: Reddish in color, especially of the face, fire, or sky. Full definition →

Middle English rody ← Old English rudiġ ← Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁rewdʰ-
  2. Old Englishrudu
  3. Old Englishrudiġ
  4. Middle Englishrody
  5. English todayruddy

Inherited from Middle English rody, from Old English rudiġ (“reddish; ruddy”), from rudu + -iġ. By surface analysis, rud (“redness”) + -y. Compare Icelandic roði (“redness”). The British slang sense expressing irritation is presumably a euphemism for bloody.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.