# red

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹɛd/ · frequency rank #480

## Definitions
1. The colour of the setting sun, blood, and strawberries; the colour which is evoked by the longest visible wavelengths (between about 625–740 nm), and a primary additive colour.
2. A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
3. One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.
4. Red wine.
5. Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.
6. A red variety of an animal, such as a red kangaroo or a red squirrel.
7. A redshank.
8. An American Indian.
9. The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.
10. A red light (a traffic signal)
11. Red lemonade
12. One of the three color charges for quarks.
13. Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").
14. The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.
15. Tomato ketchup.

## Etymology
From Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from the root *h₁rewdʰ-.
Cognates
See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud; also Welsh rhudd, Latin ruber, rufus, Tocharian A rtär, Tocharian B ratre, Ancient Greek ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), Albanian pruth (“redhead”), Russian ру́дый (rúdyj) ("red", "redhaired"). Czech rudý, Lithuanian raúdas, Finnish rauta, Estonian raud, Serbo-Croatian riđ ("reddish", "red"), Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬌𐬛𐬌𐬙𐬀 (raoidita), Sanskrit रुधिर (rudhirá, “red, bloody”).

## Easily confused with
- **RS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rs)
- **RT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rt)
- **RM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rm)
- **RN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rn)
- **RI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-ri)
- **RP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rp)
- **RF** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rf)
- **RV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rv)
- **RR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rr)
- **RL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rl)
- **RH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rh)
- **RW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rw)
- **run** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-run)
- **row** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-row)
- **rid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rid)
- **rep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rep)
- **Rio** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rio)
- **rob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rob)
- **rip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-rip)
- **Roy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/red-vs-roy)

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