# blue

> English word · Adjective · IPA /bluː/ · frequency rank #761

## Definitions
1. Of a blue hue.
2. Depressed, melancholic, sad.
3. Having a bluish or purplish shade to the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep-red red blood cells; cyanotic.
4. Pale, without redness or glare.
5. Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
6. Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
7. Supportive of, run by (a member of), pertaining to, or dominated by a political party represented by the colour blue.
8. Of, dominated by, or shifted toward the higher-frequency, or "bluer", end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
9. Having a colour charge of blue.
10. Extra rare; left very raw and cold.
11. Having a coat of fur of a slaty gray shade.
12. Severe or overly strict in morals; gloomy.
13. Literary; scholarly; bluestockinged.
14. Risqué; obscene; profane; pornographic.
15. Drunk.

## Etymology
From Middle English blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew (“blue”), from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”).
Cognate with dialectal English blow (“blue”), Scots blue, blew (“blue”), North Frisian bla, blö (“blue”), Saterland Frisian blau (“blue”), Dutch blauw (“blue”), German blau (“blue”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish blå (“blue”), Icelandic blár (“blue”), Latin flāvus (“yellow”), French bleu (“blue”), Middle Irish blá (“yellow”). Doublet of blow.
Possibly related also to English blee (“colour”), from Old English blēo (“colour”); but direct derivatives of Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”) in Old English include: Old English blāw and blēo (“blue”), Old English blǣwen (“bluish, light-blue”), blǣhǣwen (“blue-coloured, bluish, violet or purple colour”, literally “blue-hued”). There seems to be a parallel connection in Germanic between words for blue and colour, dually exemplified by Proto-West Germanic *blīu (“colour, blee”) and *blāu (“blue”); and Proto-Germanic *hiwją (“colour, hue”) and *hēwijaz (“blue, purple”).
(depressed): Compare typologically Russian тоска́ зелёная (toská zeljónaja) (<+ зелёный (zeljónyj)).

## Easily confused with
- **but** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-but)
- **buy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-buy)
- **bus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bus)
- **bye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bye)
- **bug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bug)
- **bud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bud)
- **bum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bum)
- **bun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bun)
- **BYU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-byu)
- **Boe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-boe)
- **bub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bub)
- **bur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bur)
- **bru** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bru)
- **BTU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-btu)
- **bly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bly)
- **Bui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bui)
- **bone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bone)
- **bout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bout)
- **bore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-bore)
- **blur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/blue-vs-blur)

## Common misspellings (5)
`bblue`, `bleu`, `bllue`, `bule`, `lbue`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/blue