azure English · revision 1931

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈæʒə/, /ˈæzjʊə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈæʒɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|azur]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[der|la-med|azura]],^(AHD) [[der|ar|لازورد|tr=lāzaward]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|fa|لاجورد|tr=lājvard|t=lapis lazuli]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) Etymonline traces the Persian word to ''Lajward'', a place in Turkestan where the stone was mined.^(Etymonline) The initial ''l-'' was lost in the Romance languages because it was taken for the definite article.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) Merriam-Webster traces the English word through Anglo-French ''azeure'' and probably Old Spanish.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The precious stone [[lapis lazuli]] (c. 1325).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the stone the word passed to the blue pigment made from it (c. 1374)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and to blue in [[heraldry]] (before 1330).^(OED 1989) By 1481 it meant the clear blue of the unclouded sky or sea,^(OED 1989) and by 1667 the sky itself.^(OED 1989) The OED notes that it first meant a deep, intense blue, but now usually a soft, clear, bright blue.^(OED 1989) The stone sense is archaic.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1325 – lapis lazuli.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1330 – the heraldic color blue.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1374 – a blue pigment or dye.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1481 – the blue of the clear sky.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1667 – the unclouded sky.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The blue color of a clear sky; a light purplish blue.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' The color blue.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(poetic)'' The clear, cloudless [[sky]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(archaic)'' [[Lapis lazuli]].^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the color of a clear blue sky.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[azurite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lapis lazuli]]

+ * [[lazuli]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}