Etymologically
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rosy

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹəʊzi/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹoʊzi/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English rose + -y.[2][3][4][5][6] The Middle English form was rosi, also rosie.[7] Rose itself is from Old English rōse, from Latin rosa.[3][8] Etymonline suggests that the adjective was probably modelled on Old French rose.[3] Similar adjectives were formed in other Germanic languages: Middle Dutch rosich (now rozig), Old High German rōsag, Middle High German rōsic and German rosig, all first meaning rose-red.[2][3] An Old English dative roseum has been taken as evidence for an unrecorded *rōsig, but the OED thinks it is probably a copying error for a form of the earlier adjective rōsen.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rose-red, pink: 1381, in a cookery recipe that tells the cook to colour a dish rosy.[2][7] Etymonline dates the word to about 1200,[3] and Hoad notes that it was rare before the 16th century.[8]

Semantic evolution

The colour sense was applied to people, faces and lips, especially as a sign of good health, from about 1450,[2] and to faces red with blushing from 1593.[2] The sense "decorated with or made of roses" is recorded from 1508, in Dunbar,[2] and "fragrant like a rose" from before 1586, in Sidney's Arcadia.[2][3] The Faerie Queene (1590) has the Homeric "rosy fingered" morning,[3][9] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as resembling a rose in bloom, beauty, colour or fragrance.[9] The figurative sense "bright, promising, hopeful", in the same way as rose-colored, is recorded from 1685, in D'Urfey,[2][3] and of a cheerful, optimistic temperament from 1859.[2] In slang, red-faced from drink and so rosy meant drunk from 1823;[2][10] as a noun, the rosy was red wine from 1840, in Dickens's Old Curiosity Shop.[2][10] A verb, to make rosy, is recorded from 1652.[2][4] In northern English dialect rosy could also be a noun meaning a rose, and in Shropshire hens were rosy when their combs were red and healthy.[11][2]

Timeline

  • 1381 – rose-red, pink.[2][7]
  • c. 1450 – of a person or the face, pink with health.[2]
  • 1508 – decorated with or made of roses.[2]
  • before 1586 – fragrant like a rose.[2]
  • 1593 – red with blushing.[2]
  • 1652 – verb, to make rosy.[2][4]
  • 1685 – bright, promising, hopeful.[2]
  • 1823 – slang, drunk.[2]
  • 1840 – noun, the rosy, red wine (now obsolete).[2][10]
  • 1859 – of temperament, optimistic.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having the pink or light red colour of a rose: a rosy evening sky.[4][2][12]
  2. Of the skin or face, pink in a way that suggests health or youth; blooming: The children came in from the snow with rosy cheeks.[4][12][2]
  3. Promising good fortune; hopeful or optimistic, sometimes too much so: The report paints a rosy picture of the economy.[12][4][2]
  4. Red from blushing.[4][2]
  5. Scented with roses, or as if with roses.[4][2]
  6. (slang) Drunk, tipsy.[2][10]

Verb

  1. To make or become rosy; to tinge with pink.[4][2]

Word family

  • rosily
  • rosiness
  • rosy finch
  • rosy periwinkle
  • rose
  • roseate
  • rose-colored
  • rosette

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press