red English · revision 3604

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 700 (Old English rēad)|origins=ine-pro *reudh-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /red/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|red]] (also [[m|enm|reed]]), [[inh|ang|rēad]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) from [[gem-pro|*raudaz]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*reudh-|t=red, ruddy]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) which Etymonline calls the only colour word with a definite common PIE root.^(Etymonline) Its relatives include [[de|rot]], [[nl|rood]], [[non|rauðr]], [[la|ruber]] and [[grc|ἐρυθρός|tr=eruthrós|t=red]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) English [[ruddy]] and [[rust]] come from the same root, and [[ruby]], [[rubric]] and [[russet]] from it through Latin.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Red: Old English ''rēad'', about 700,^(Barnhart 1988) used of many shades from purple and crimson to pink, of red clothes, dye, ink and wine, and of a ruddy face or red hair.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The long vowel was shortened after Middle English, as in ''bread'' and ''lead'', but survives in the surnames ''Read'', ''Reade'', ''Reed'' and ''Reid''.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The noun is from about 1250,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and a red-haired person from the early 14th century.^(Etymonline) ''Redbreast'', ''red deer'' and ''red herring'' are 15th-century compounds.^(Hoad 1986) Red was linked with blood and violence from 1297, and the red flag of defiance in battle is recorded from 1602.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The first political use in English is from 1848, in reports of the French “Red Republic”;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) a ''red'' was a radical from 1851 and a Bolshevik from 1917, and the ''Red Army'' is from 1918.^(Etymonline) ''In the red'', “in debt”, is from 1926, from the red ink once used for debts.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) Church calendars marked feast days in red, which gave ''red-letter day''.^(Cresswell 2021) The Old English verb ''rēodan'' often meant “to stain with blood, wound, kill”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 700 – Old English ''rēad''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1250 – noun.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 15th century – ''red herring'', ''red deer''.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 1602 – the red flag in battle.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1848 – political sense.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1851 – a radical.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1917 – a Bolshevik.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1926 – ''in the red''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the colour of [[blood]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Reddish, or having reddish parts: ''red hair''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Flushed, [[ruddy]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(informal, often capitalized)'' Communist or radical.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The colour of blood, at the long-wave end of the [[spectrum]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Red pigment, wine or clothing.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''(informal, often capitalized)'' A communist or radical.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(in the red)'' In debt; losing money.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[redly]]

+ * [[redness]]

+ * [[antired]]

+ * [[blood red]]

+ * [[brick red]]

+ * [[cherry red]]

+ * [[Chinese red]]

+ * [[chrome red]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ruddy]]

+ * [[rust]]

+ * [[ruby]]

+ * [[rubric]]

+ * [[russet]]

+ * [[redden]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}