Word of the Day
: September 11, 2020ruddy
playWhat It Means
1 : having a healthy reddish color
3 British — used as an intensive
ruddy in Context
"There was a stout man with a ruddy complexion, a merchant probably, half asleep." — Elif Shafak, The Architect’s Apprentice, 2014
"Lichen green and the reds of fired brick exude a splash of ruddy color on the exterior of Manchester State Park's enclosed picnic area…." — Bob Smith, The Kitsap Daily News, 5 Nov. 2019
Did You Know?
In Old English, there were two related words referring to red coloring: rēad and rudu. Rēad evolved into our present-day red. Rudu evolved into rud (a word now encountered only in dialect or archaic usage) and ruddy. Most often, ruddy is applied to the face when it has the red glow of good health or is red from a suffusion of blood from exercise or excitement. It is also used in the names of some birds, such as the American ruddy duck. In British English, ruddy is also used as a colorful euphemism for the sometimes offensive intensive bloody, as 20th-century English writer Sir Kingsley Amis illustrates in The Riverside Villas Murder: "Ruddy marvelous, the way these coppers' minds work.... I take a swing at Chris Inman in public means I probably done him in."
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Name That Synonym
Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of ruddy: r _ _ i _ u _ d.
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