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red

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "red"

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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”).

Noun

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

  1. (countable and uncountable) 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.
    red:  
    Red can be seen as hot or angry.
    • 2025 February 21, Leah Dolan, “How the Superman ‘S’ became fashion’s favorite logo”, in CNN‎:
      And although we’ve certainly seen a variety of blue shades — from periwinkle to cobalt and even Dean Cain’s indigo-washed costume from the 1990’s TV show “Lois & Clark” — Superman’s uniform is still instantly recognizable across generations. In fact, there is only one film — Zack Snyder’s 2013 “Man of Steel” — in which Superman does not wear his iconic red belted trunks.
    • 2025 March 29, Kristen Rogers, “Over half of US states are trying to eliminate food dyes. Here’s what you can do now”, in CNN‎:
      Red No. 3, red No. 40, blue No. 2 and green No. 3 all have been linked with cancer or tumors in animals. Other sources say red No. 40 and yellow No. 5 and No. 6 contain or may be contaminated with known carcinogens.
  3. (countable) A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
    Coordinate term: pinko
  4. (countable, snooker) One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.
  5. (countable and uncountable) Red wine.
    • 1977 September, Billy Joel, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in The Stranger:
      A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / in our Italian restaurant.
    • 2005, Jeffrey P. Landry, Temptation Mango:
      He produced a wine key from his jacket pocket and effortlessly removed the cork from the bottle of red.
    • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:
      59 sneak in some red Smuggle a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew into a long matinee. Red wine is rich in life-extending antioxidants, and the caper will add zest even to a bad movie.
  6. (countable) Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.
    Hyponyms: Flanders red, Irish red
    • 2012 June 5, Howard Stelzer, Beer Cocktails: 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales, Harvard Common Press, →ISBN:
      American reds and doppelbocks are heavy lagers as well. It really comes down to how the beer was made. Beyond that, brewers are immensely creative and have developed styles of both ale and lager that run a wide range of attributes.
    • 2016 April 1, Lonely Planet, Helena Smith, Andy Symington, Donna Wheeler, Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg, Lonely Planet, →ISBN:
      No other country has a brewing tradition as richly diverse as that of Belgium, with beers ranging from pleasant pale lagers to wild, winelike Flemish reds and lambics.
  7. (countable, informal) A red variety of an animal, such as a red kangaroo or a red squirrel.
  8. (countable, informal, UK, birdwatching) A redshank.
  9. (derogatory, offensive) An American Indian.
    Synonym: redskin
  10. (slang) The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.
    Synonyms: redbird, red devil
    • 1970, “Truckin'”, in American Beauty, performed by Grateful Dead:
      What in the world ever became of sweet Jane? / She lost her sparkle, you know she isn't the same / Livin' on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine
    • 1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harper Perennial, published 2005, page 202:
      The big market, these days, is in Downers. Reds and smack—Seconal and heroin—and a hellbroth of bad domestic grass sprayed with everything from arsenic to horse tranquillizers.
    • 1998, Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer, New York, NY: Pocket Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 285:
      “Whatchu got, man?” / “Reds, bennies, dexies, yellow jackets, demmies.” / “Yeah, demmies're good shit, man. I pay you. Fuck. I got money. I'm hurting inside. Got beat up. Where my money?”
  11. (informal) A red light (a traffic signal)
    • 1974, Tom Waits, “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night”, in The Heart of Saturday Night‎:
      Stopping on the red, you're going on the green / Cause tonight will be like nothing you've ever seen / And you're barreling down the boulevard / You're looking for the heart of Saturday night
  12. (Ireland, UK, beverages, informal) Red lemonade
  13. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
  14. (US, colloquial, uncountable) Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").
    • 1982, The Rotarian, volume 140, number 1, page 39:
      Houston visited a home in an early pioneer settlement where he was offered a bowl of red. Houston eagerly took his first large spoonful. His eyes watering, he spat out his bite […]
  15. (informal) The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.
    • 2013 November, Catch Cormier, “Sightcasting for redfish”, in Louisiana Sportsman‎:
      The species Sciaenops ocellatus certainly isn’t lacking for nicknames. […] Clear water also favors sightcasting. Against the dark background of marsh mud, a red will appear like a pumpkin — big, orange and round.
  16. (slang, uncountable) Tomato ketchup.
    • 2016, Jon Bounds, Danny Smith, Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside:
      I squeeze some red out over my chips and feel guilty. Nothing is as English as Heinz ketchup in the sauce game, except perhaps HP.
Derived terms
Terms derived from red (noun)
Translations

Adjective

red (comparative redder, superlative reddest)

  1. Of a red hue.
    The girl wore a red skirt.
    He was wearing a red jacket.
  2. (of hair) Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.
    Her hair had red highlights.
  3. (of the skin) Having a redder hue than usual due to embarrassment, anger, sunburn, etc.; flushed.
    • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 23:
      [T]he sun was shining on a happy crowd. It shone on white hats and red faces. It shone on ice lollies and melted them.
  4. (of a dog or its coat) Having a brown color.
  5. (card games, of a card) Of the hearts or diamonds suits. Compare black (“of the spades or clubs suits”)
    I got two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.
  6. (politics, often capitalized) Supportive of, related to, or dominated by a political party or movement represented by the color red:
    1. Left-wing parties and movements, chiefly socialist or communist, including the U.K. Labour party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
      • "Only Nixon could go to China" was the refrain of conventional wisdom during Richard Nixon’s 1972 official visit to Mao Tse-tung’s regime. Nixon’s anti-communist credentials, however dubious, provided useful camouflage as he opened diplomatic relations with Red China and made breathtaking concessions that an undisguised liberal couldn’t get away with.
      the red-black grand coalition in Germany
    2. (US politics) The U.S. Republican Party. [21st c.]
      a red state
      a red Congress
  7. (chiefly derogatory, offensive) Amerind; relating to Amerindians or First Nations.
    • 1994, Soundgarden, Spoonman:
      All my friends are Indians / All my friends are brown and red
  8. (astronomy) Of the lower-frequency region of the (typically visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
  9. (particle physics) Of a red color charge.
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “having red as its colour”): nonred, unred
  • (antonym(s) of “having red as its colour charge”): antired
Derived terms
Translations
See red/translations § Adjective.

See also

redsedit
Colo(u)rs in English (layout · text)
             red          orange              yellow              green              blue (incl.      indigo;
             cyan, teal, turquoise)		              purple / violet
         pink (including
         magenta)		          brown      white              gray/grey      black

References

Etymology 2

From the colors used on traffic lights; red being the one that tells vehicles to halt.

Interjection

red

  1. (BDSM, procedure word) Used to indicate that the speaker wishes current sexual activity to stop immediately.
    Coordinate terms: green, yellow

Etymology 3

From the archaic verb rede.

Verb

red

  1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of rede

Etymology 4

Verb

red (third-person singular simple present reds, present participle redding, simple past and past participle redded)

  1. Alternative spelling of redd.

References

Anagrams

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Bislama

Etymology

From English red.

Adjective

red

  1. red

Danish

Pronunciation

Verb

red

  1. past of ride

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

red

  1. inflection of redden:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

Verb

red

  1. singular imperative of reden

Italian

Noun

red

  1. a type of rice

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish rét.

Noun

red m (genitive singular red, plural reddyn)

  1. thing, object, item
    Cha daink reddyn dy mie.
    Things didn't pan out well.
    Cha nel shen deyr son y leagh t'er reddyn nish.
    That's not dear as things go.
    Kanys ta reddyn goll er?
    How are things?
    Son y chied red, t'eh ro vie dy ve firrinagh.
    For one thing, it is too good to be true.
    Ta reddyn couyral.
    Things are getting better.
    Ta reddyn ennagh ayn nagh vel niart ain orroo.
    There are some things we cannot help.
    Ta shen red aitt.
    That's a curious thing.
    T'eh yn un red.
    It amounts to the same thing.
    T'eh çheet stiagh rish yn red elley.
    It falls in with the other thing.
    She'n red hene eh y traa shoh.
    It's the real thing this time.
    Va shen yn red cooie dy ghra.
    That was the appropriate thing to say.
  2. matter
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Middle English

Etymology 1

    From Old English rǣd, from Proto-West Germanic *rād, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaz.

    Alternative forms

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    red (plural redes)

    1. counsel, advice, recommendation
    2. persuasion, convincing
    3. agreement, permission, allowance
    4. decree, edict
    5. decision, will, purpose
    6. judgement, judicial decision, opinion
    7. plan, strategy, programme, plot
    8. event, happening, occurrence
    9. benefit, boon, help
    10. deliberation, discussion
    11. wisdom
    Descendants
    • English: rede
    • Scots: rede
    References

    Etymology 2

      From Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud.

      Alternative forms

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      red (plural redes)

      1. reed, flax (plant)
      2. The stalk of a reed
      3. straw, thatching
      4. reed pen
      Descendants
      References

      Etymology 3

        From Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós.

        Alternative forms

        Pronunciation

        Adjective

        red (comparative redder, superlative reddest)

        1. red, crimson, scarlet (in color)
        2. red pigment
        3. reddened, dyed red
        4. blushing, red-faced
        5. bloody, blood-stained
        6. ruddy, rosy
        7. red-haired
        8. red-clothed, wearing red
        9. (metal) golden
        10. (alchemy) causing transmutation into gold
        Descendants
        References

        Noun

        red

        1. red (colour)
        2. red pigment, vermillion, cinnabar
        3. (heraldry) red, gules (tincture)
        4. reddish or ruddy skin
        5. reddish eyes or irises
        6. red fabric
        7. red wine
        8. blood
        Descendants
        See also
        Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)
             whit      grey, hor      blak
                     red; cremesyn, gernet              citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne              yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
                     grasgrene              grene             
                     plunket; ewage              asure, livid              blew, blo, pers
                     violet; inde              rose, murrey; purpel, purpur              claret
        References
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        Northern Kurdish

        Pronunciation

        Verb

        red

        1. to disappear.

        Norwegian Bokmål

        Alternative forms

        Verb

        red

        1. simple past of ri
        2. simple past of ride

        Old English

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        rēd m

        1. alternative form of ræd

        Polish

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        red

        1. genitive plural of reda

        Serbo-Croatian

        Etymology

        Inherited from Proto-Slavic *rędъ.

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        rȇd m inan (Cyrillic spelling ре̑д)

        1. row
        2. (mathematics) series
          konvergentan red ― convergent series
          divergentan red ― divergent series
        3. queue
        4. order (of magnitude)
        5. order (arrangement, disposition)
        6. line (of customers)
        7. (chess) rank
        8. (religion) order
          franjevački red ― order of Saint Francis of Assisi

        Declension

        More information singular, plural ...

        References

        • “red”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

        Slovene

        Etymology 1

        From Proto-Slavic *rędъ.

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        rẹ̑d m inan

        1. order (arrangement, disposition)
        Declension
        The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
        More information Masculine inan., hard o-stem, plural in -ôv-, nom. sing. ...
        The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
        More information Masculine inan., hard o-stem, nom. sing. ...

        Etymology 2

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        rẹ̑d f

        1. swath (the track cut out by a scythe in mowing)
        Declension
        The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
        More information Feminine, i-stem, long mixed accent, nom. sing. ...

        Further reading

        • “red”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
        • “red”, in Termania, Amebis
        • See also the general references

        Spanish

        FWOTD – 8 May 2013
        Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
        Wikipedia es

        Etymology

        Inherited from Old Spanish red, from Latin rēte (“net”). Cognate with English rete.

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        red f (plural redes)

        1. (hunting, tools) web, mesh
        2. (fishing) net
          • 1911, Benito Pérez Galdós, De Cartago a Sagunto : 13:
            Si se consigue pescar a Dorregaray con cuarenta mil duretes, a Cástor Andéchaga con veinticinco mil, y a otros tales, habremos hecho más que cogiendo en la red a los bicharracos de menor cuantía.
            (please add an English translation of this quotation)
        3. spiderweb
          Synonyms: telaraña, tela de araña
        4. trap, snare
          Synonyms: trampa, cepo
        5. (communication, transport) net, network
          red de carreteras ― highway network
          red de radiodifusoras ― radio broadcasters network
          red televisiva ― TV broadcasting network
        6. (sports) net, goal
        7. (electricity) grid
          fuera de la red ― off the grid
        8. (informal, sometimes capitalized) Web, Internet
          • 2013 January 16, “España: al 74% le gustaría acceder por Red a su historial clínico”, in El País‎, archived from the original on 25 May 2020:
            La mayoría de la población (84%) accede a la red para temas relacionados con la sanidad.
            Most of the population (84%) accesses the web for health-related topics.
          • 2021 January 29, Sara Rivas Moreno, quoting Paula González, “Las pymes montan la tienda en Instagram”, in El País‎, Madrid, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 January 2021:
            "Nunca hemos hecho una campaña ni hemos pagado por seguidores, pero como soy prehistórica de la Red, me une una relación de contacto y amistad con muchas influencers; de no ser así, no nos sacarían", puntualiza.
            (please add an English translation of this quotation)
        9. (in the plural) social networks
          Synonym: redes sociales

        Usage notes

        • Red is a false friend and does not mean the same as the English word red. The Spanish word for red is rojo.

        Derived terms

        Further reading

        Swedish

        Pronunciation

        Verb

        red

        1. imperative of reda
        2. past indicative of rida

        Anagrams

        Turkish

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        red (definite accusative reddi, plural redler)

        1. alternative form of ret (“refusal, rejection”)

        Volapük

        Etymology

        Borrowed from English red.

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        red (nominative plural reds)

        1. the colour red

        Declension

        More information singular, plural ...

        1 status as a case is disputed
        2 in later, non-classical Volapük only

        Derived terms

        See also

        Colors in Volapük · köls (layout · text)
             viet      ged      bläg
                     red              rojan; braun              yelov
                                  grün             
                                               blöv
                     violät              purpur              redül

        Yola

        Etymology

        Possibly from Middle English redde, past of redden.

        Pronunciation

        Verb

        red

        1. To encounter by chance, to take (shoe)
          • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 11:
            In durk Ich red virst mee left-vooted shoe."
            In the dark I happened first on my left-footed shoe."

        References

        • Kathleen A. Browne (1927), “THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD.”, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of lreland (Sixth Series)‎, volume 17, number 2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129

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