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English word origin

Etymology of Blue

From the German surname, Americanized from Blau or its French cognate bleu.

1 source sectionBrief source recordWiktionary original ↗

INDEPENDENT SOURCE LIBRARY

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In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

A surname from German. An anglicization of German Blau. · A female given name from English, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell. · A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name. (Australia) Nickname for a person with ginger hair.

noun

A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge. · A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969) · Synonym of British Blue (“a breed of cat”).

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From the German surname, Americanized from Blau or its French cognate bleu.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "German"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "French"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Blau",
      "Blau#English"
    ],
    [
      "bleu",
      "bleu#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A surname from German. An anglicization of German Blau.",
        "A female given name from English, typically used in conjoined names like Bonnie Blue or Blue Bell.",
        "A male nickname, occasionally used as a formal given name. (Australia) Nickname for a person with ginger hair."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare"
      ],
      "recordId": "e6abba8c4cc6d4a793c11a4618d0e26f87268b25b506522037c66396f9e78ef6",
      "rawRecordSha256": "df581014bd1d4eecfd6872c83de32b63426ec0e18fe305cd826a2bf08d0cec44",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 323842
    },
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A letterman at Oxford or Cambridge.",
        "A member of the Royal Horse Guards (which merged with the 1st Dragoons in 1969)",
        "Synonym of British Blue (“a breed of cat”)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "recordId": "e87026cead6748d6d68e93bb2775d9c8b8f7f76619228422cfd08741c7e2f5bc",
      "rawRecordSha256": "6d6616c827f682df7788643eedb34d4b52a67924e452c5c68df6a9248a32d161",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 323843
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

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Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-Qmx1ZQ