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reddish

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Etymology and origin of the English word reddish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1398 before 1398, J. Trevisa, translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Old English rēad

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹɛdɪʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English redische,[2][3] also redish,[4] formed from Middle English red + -ische,[2] that is, red and the suffix -ish.[5][4][6][3] The OED compares reddy.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Somewhat red, tinged with red: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.[5] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same since Middle English.[5][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "somewhat red", citing Leviticus.[8] From 1777, in Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, it has also been used in the names of animals and plants,[5] as in the reddish egret.[6] It has occasionally served as a noun as well.[5] The noun reddishness is recorded from the mid 17th century, and the rare adverb reddishly from the mid 20th.[6]

Timeline

  • before 1398 – somewhat red, tinged with red.[5]
  • 1777 – in the names of animals and plants.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Somewhat red; tinged with red: the reddish soil of the valley.[9][2][5]
  2. In the names of animals and plants, red-tinted.[5]

Word family

  • reddishness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Cite this entry

“Reddish.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/reddish. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·