English word origin

Etymology of bleen

Blend of blue + green; coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

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 ↗

adj

Of an object, blue when first observed before a specified time or green when first observed after that time.

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

Blend of blue + green; coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955 to illustrate concepts in the philosophy of science

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Blend componentblueen
Blend componentgreenen

Inspect preserved source fields

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

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "blend",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "blue",
        "3": "green"
      },
      "expansion": "Blend of blue + green"
    },
    {
      "name": "coinage",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Nelson Goodman",
        "in": "1955",
        "nat": "American",
        "occ": "philosopher",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by American philosopher Nelson Goodman in 1955"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "blue",
      "blue#English"
    ],
    [
      "green",
      "green#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Of an object, blue when first observed before a specified time or green when first observed after that time."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "recordId": "6b1a5bc82e624aea54f394133300b0e3a44d2cf26dc3a737ff3f00af7f46456f",
      "rawRecordSha256": "fc3efc3bc7712e627a9ec60a33e5de658d068c52edc1433be497bf465bcc9024",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 413506
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
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    "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.

Contribute located evidence for bleen →

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-YmxlZW4