red - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Various shades of red

A woman with red hair.

A Uyghur girl in China who has red hair.

A glass of red wine

A red salmon

color

color

red

Several of the most common color words in English

Proto-West Germanic *raud

Middle English red

English red

Inherited from Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós.

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 (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

  1. (countable and uncountable) The colour of the setting sun, blood, and strawberries; the colour which is evoked by the longest visible wavelengths (between about 625–740 nm), and a primary additive colour.
    red:
    Red can be seen as hot or angry.
    • 2025 February 21, Leah Dolan, “How the Superman ‘S’ became fashion’s favorite logo”, in CNN‎[1]:
      And although we’ve certainly seen a variety of blue shades — from periwinkle to cobalt and even Dean Cain’s indigo-washed costume from the 1990’s TV show “Lois & Clark” — Superman’s uniform is still instantly recognizable across generations. In fact, there is only one film — Zack Snyder’s 2013 “Man of Steel” — in which Superman does not wear his iconic red belted trunks.
    • 2025 March 29, Kristen Rogers, “Over half of US states are trying to eliminate food dyes. Here’s what you can do now”, in CNN‎[2]:
      Red No. 3, red No. 40, blue No. 2 and green No. 3 all have been linked with cancer or tumors in animals. Other sources say red No. 40 and yellow No. 5 and No. 6 contain or may be contaminated with known carcinogens.
  2. (countable) A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
    Coordinate term: pinko
  3. (countable, snooker) One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.
  4. (countable and uncountable) Red wine.
    • 2005, Jeffrey P. Landry, Temptation Mango:
      He produced a wine key from his jacket pocket and effortlessly removed the cork from the bottle of red.
    • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
      59 sneak in some red Smuggle a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew into a long matinee. Red wine is rich in life-extending antioxidants, and the caper will add zest even to a bad movie.
  5. (countable) Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.
    Hyponyms: Flanders red, Irish red
    • 2012 June 5, Howard Stelzer, Beer Cocktails: 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales, Harvard Common Press, →ISBN:
      American reds and doppelbocks are heavy lagers as well. It really comes down to how the beer was made. Beyond that, brewers are immensely creative and have developed styles of both ale and lager that run a wide range of attributes.
    • 2016 April 1, Lonely Planet, Helena Smith, Andy Symington, Donna Wheeler, Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg, Lonely Planet, →ISBN:
      No other country has a brewing tradition as richly diverse as that of Belgium, with beers ranging from pleasant pale lagers to wild, winelike Flemish reds and lambics.
  6. (countable, informal) A red variety of an animal, such as a red kangaroo or a red squirrel.
  7. (countable, informal, UK, birdwatching) A redshank.
  8. (derogatory, offensive) An American Indian.
    Synonym: redskin
  9. (slang) The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.
    Synonyms: redbird, red devil
    • 1970, “Truckin'”, in American Beauty, performed by Grateful Dead:
      What in the world ever became of sweet Jane? / She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same / Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
    • 1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harper Perennial, published 2005, page 202:
      The big market, these days, is in Downers. Reds and smack—Seconal and heroin—and a hellbroth of bad domestic grass sprayed with everything from arsenic to horse tranquillizers.
    • 1998, Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer, New York, NY: Pocket Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 285:
      “Whatchu got, man?” / “Reds, bennies, dexies, yellow jackets, demmies.” / “Yeah, demmies're good shit, man. I pay you. Fuck. I got money. I'm hurting inside. Got beat up. Where my money?”
  10. (informal) A red light (a traffic signal)
  1. (Ireland, UK, beverages, informal) Red lemonade
  2. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
  3. (US, colloquial, uncountable) Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").
  1. (informal) The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.
  1. (slang, uncountable) Tomato ketchup.

colour

snooker: one of the 15 red balls

derogatory: Amerind — see also Amerind

particle physics: one of the three color charges for quarks

fish Sciaenops ocellatus — see also red drum

red (comparative redder, superlative reddest)

  1. Of a red hue.
    The girl wore a red skirt.
    He was wearing a red jacket.
  2. (of hair) Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.
    Her hair had red highlights.
  3. (of the skin) Having a redder hue than usual due to embarrassment, anger, sunburn, etc.; flushed.
    • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 23:
      [T]he sun was shining on a happy crowd. It shone on white hats and red faces. It shone on ice lollies and melted them.
  4. (of a dog or its coat) Having a brown color.
  5. (card games, of a card) Of the hearts or diamonds suits. Compare black (“of the spades or clubs suits”)
    I got two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.
  6. (politics, often capitalized) Supportive of, related to, or dominated by a political party or movement represented by the color red:
    1. Left-wing parties and movements, chiefly socialist or communist, including the U.K. Labour party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
      • "Only Nixon could go to China" was the refrain of conventional wisdom during Richard Nixon’s 1972 official visit to Mao Tse-tung’s regime. Nixon’s anti-communist credentials, however dubious, provided useful camouflage as he opened diplomatic relations with Red China and made breathtaking concessions that an undisguised liberal couldn’t get away with. [5]
        the red-black grand coalition in Germany
    2. (US politics) The U.S. Republican Party. [21st c.]
      a red state
      a red Congress
  7. (chiefly derogatory, offensive) Amerind; relating to Amerindians or First Nations.
    • 1994, Soundgarden, Spoonman:
      All my friends are Indians / All my friends are brown and red
  8. (astronomy) Of the lower-frequency region of the (typically visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
  9. (particle physics) Of a red color charge.

red

  1. (BDSM, procedure word) Used to indicate that the speaker wishes current sexual activity to stop immediately.
    Coordinate terms: green, yellow
Colo(u)rs in English (layout · text)
red orange yellow green blue (incl. indigo) purple / violet
magenta, pink brown cyan, teal, turquoise white gray/grey black

From the archaic verb rede.

red

  1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of rede

red (third-person singular simple present reds, present participle redding, simple past and past participle redded)

  1. Alternative spelling of redd.

From English red.

red

  1. red

red

  1. past of ride

red

  1. inflection of redden:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

red

  1. singular imperative of reden

red

  1. a type of rice

From Old Irish rét.

red m (genitive singular **red, plural reddyn)

  1. thing, object, item
    Cha daink reddyn dy mie.
    Things didn't pan out well.
    Cha nel shen deyr son y leagh t'er reddyn nish.
    That's not dear as things go.
    Kanys ta reddyn goll er?
    How are things?
    Son y chied red, t'eh ro vie dy ve firrinagh.
    For one thing, it is too good to be true.
    Ta reddyn couyral.
    Things are getting better.
    Ta reddyn ennagh ayn nagh vel niart ain orroo.
    There are some things we cannot help.
    Ta shen red aitt.
    That's a curious thing.
    T'eh yn un red.
    It amounts to the same thing.
    T'eh çheet stiagh rish yn red elley.
    It falls in with the other thing.
    She'n red hene eh y traa shoh.
    It's the real thing this time.
    Va shen yn red cooie dy ghra.
    That was the appropriate thing to say.
  2. matter

From Old English rǣd, from Proto-West Germanic *rād, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaz.

red (plural redes)

  1. counsel, advice, recommendation
  2. persuasion, convincing
  3. agreement, permission, allowance
  4. decree, edict
  5. decision, will, purpose
  6. judgement, judicial decision, opinion
  7. plan, strategy, programme, plot
  8. event, happening, occurrence
  9. benefit, boon, help
  10. deliberation, discussion
  11. wisdom

From Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud.

red (plural redes)

  1. reed, flax (plant)
  2. The stalk of a reed
  3. straw, thatching
  4. reed pen

Proto-West Germanic *raud

Middle English red

From Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós.

red (comparative redder, superlative reddest)

  1. red, crimson, scarlet (in color)
  2. red pigment
  3. reddened, dyed red
  4. blushing, red-faced
  5. bloody, blood-stained
  6. ruddy, rosy
  7. red-haired
  8. red-clothed, wearing red
  9. (metal) golden
  10. (alchemy) causing transmutation into gold

red

  1. red (colour)
  2. red pigment, vermillion, cinnabar
  3. (heraldry) red, gules (tincture)
  4. reddish or ruddy skin
  5. reddish eyes or irises
  6. red fabric
  7. red wine
  8. blood

Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)

whit grey, hor blak
red; cremesyn, gernet citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
grasgrene grene
plunket; ewage asure, livid blew, blo, pers
violet; inde rose, murrey; purpel, purpur claret

red

  1. to disappear.

red

  1. simple past of ri
  2. simple past of ride

rēd m

  1. alternative form of ræd

red

  1. genitive plural of reda

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *rędъ.

rȇd m inan (Cyrillic spelling ре̑д)

  1. row
  2. (mathematics) series
    konvergentan red ― convergent series
    divergentan red ― divergent series
  3. queue
  4. order (of magnitude)
  5. order (arrangement, disposition)
  6. line (of customers)
  7. (chess) rank
  8. (religion) order
    franjevački red ― order of Saint Francis of Assisi

From Proto-Slavic *rędъ.

rẹ̑d m inan

  1. order (arrangement, disposition)
Masculine inan., hard o-stem, plural in -ôv-
nom. sing. réd
gen. sing. réda
singular dual plural
nominative(imenovȃlnik) réd redôva redôvi
genitive(rodȋlnik) réda redôv redôv
dative(dajȃlnik) rédu redôvoma redôvom
accusative(tožȋlnik) réd redôva redôve
locative(mẹ̑stnik) rédu redôvih redôvih
instrumental(orọ̑dnik) rédom redôvoma redôvi
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. réd
gen. sing. réda
singular dual plural
nominative(imenovȃlnik) réd réda rédi
genitive(rodȋlnik) réda rédov rédov
dative(dajȃlnik) rédu rédoma rédom
accusative(tožȋlnik) réd réda réde
locative(mẹ̑stnik) rédu rédih rédih
instrumental(orọ̑dnik) rédom rédoma rédi

rẹ̑d f

  1. swath (the track cut out by a scythe in mowing)
Feminine, i-stem, long mixed accent
nom. sing. réd
gen. sing. redí
singular dual plural
nominative(imenovȃlnik) réd redí redí
genitive(rodȋlnik) redí redí redí
dative(dajȃlnik) rédi redéma redém
accusative(tožȋlnik) réd redí redí
locative(mẹ̑stnik) rédi redéh redéh
instrumental(orọ̑dnik) redjó redéma redmí

Inherited from Old Spanish red, from Latin rēte (“net”). Cognate with English rete.

red f (plural redes)

  1. (hunting, tools) web, mesh
  2. (fishing) net
    • 1911, Benito Pérez Galdós, De Cartago a Sagunto : 13:
      Si se consigue pescar a Dorregaray con cuarenta mil duretes, a Cástor Andéchaga con veinticinco mil, y a otros tales, habremos hecho más que cogiendo en la red a los bicharracos de menor cuantía.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  3. spiderweb
    Synonyms: telaraña, tela de araña
  4. trap, snare
    Synonyms: trampa, cepo
  5. (communication, transport) net, network
    red de carreteras ― highway network
    red de radiodifusoras ― radio broadcasters network
    red televisiva ― TV broadcasting network
  6. (sports) net, goal
  7. (electricity) grid
    fuera de la red ― off the grid
  8. (informal, sometimes capitalized) Web, Internet
    • 2013 January 16, “España: al 74% le gustaría acceder por Red a su historial clínico”, in El País‎[6], archived from the original on 25 May 2020:
      La mayoría de la población (84%) accede a la red para temas relacionados con la sanidad.
      Most of the population (84%) accesses the web for health-related topics.
    • 2021 January 29, Sara Rivas Moreno, quoting Paula González, “Las pymes montan la tienda en Instagram”, in El País‎[7], Madrid, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 January 2021:
      "Nunca hemos hecho una campaña ni hemos pagado por seguidores, pero como soy prehistórica de la Red, me une una relación de contacto y amistad con muchas influencers; de no ser así, no nos sacarían", puntualiza.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  9. (in the plural) social networks
    Synonym: redes sociales

red

  1. imperative of reda
  2. past indicative of rida

red (definite accusative reddi, plural redler)

  1. alternative form of ret (“refusal, rejection”)

Borrowed from English red.

red (genitive reda, plural reds)

  1. the colour red

Colors in Volapük · köls (layout · text)

viet ged bläg
red rojan; braun yelov
grün
blöv
violät purpur redül

Possibly from Middle English redde, past of redden.

red

  1. To encounter by chance, to take (shoe)
    • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 11:
      In durk Ich red virst mee left-vooted shoe."
      In the dark I happened first on my left-footed shoe."