red

The girl wore a red skirt.

Your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose.

c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.

1954 July 29, J.R.R. Tolkien, “I: A Long-Expected Party”, in The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings; 1), →ISBN:

Her hair had red highlights.

(of hair) Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.

[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.

1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 23:

(of the skin) Having a redder hue than usual due to embarrassment, anger, sunburn, etc.; flushed.

(of a dog or its coat) Having a brown color.

I got two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.

(card games, of a card) Of the hearts or diamonds suits. Compare black (“of the spades or clubs suits”)

"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. https://web.archive.org/web/20061114093022/http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1998/vo14no16/vo14no16_dragon.htm

the red-black grand coalition in Germany

(politics, often capitalized) Supportive of, related to, or dominated by a political party or movement represented by the color red:

Left-wing parties and movements, chiefly socialist or communist, including the U.K. Labour party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

a red state

a red Congress

(US politics) The U.S. Republican Party.

All my friends are Indians / All my friends are brown and red

(chiefly derogatory, offensive) Amerind; relating to Amerindians or First Nations.

(astronomy) Of the lower-frequency region of the (typically visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.

(particle physics) Of a red color charge.

en-adj

red (comparative redder or more red, superlative reddest or most red)

redder (comparative)
more red (comparative)
reddest (superlative)
most red (superlative)

nonred

antonym(s) of “having red as its colour”

antired

antonym(s) of “having red as its colour charge”

punainen

(card games: of the hearts or diamonds suits

punanahka-

derogatory: relating to Amerindians or First Nations

punainen

astronomy: of the lower-frequency region of the electromagnetic spectrum

punainen

particle physics: having a color charge of red

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”).


red

red:

Red can be seen as hot or angry.

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.

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:

(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.

Coordinate term: pinko

(countable) A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.

(countable, snooker) One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.

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.

1977 September, Billy Joel, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in The Stranger:

He produced a wine key from his jacket pocket and effortlessly removed the cork from the bottle of red.

2005, Jeffrey P. Landry, Temptation Mango:

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.

2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 135:

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.

2012 June 5, Howard Stelzer, Beer Cocktails: 50 Superbly Crafted Cocktails that Liven Up Your Lagers and Ales, Harvard Common Press, →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.

2016 April 1, Lonely Planet, Helena Smith, Andy Symington, Donna Wheeler, Lonely Planet Belgium & Luxembourg, Lonely Planet, →ISBN:

(countable) Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.

(countable, informal, Australia) A red kangaroo.

(countable, informal, UK, birdwatching) A redshank.

(derogatory, offensive) An American Indian.

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

1970, “Truckin'”, in American Beauty, performed by Grateful Dead:

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.

1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Harper Perennial, published 2005, page 202:

“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?”

1998, Jeffery Deaver, The Coffin Dancer, New York, NY: Pocket Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 285:

(slang) The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.

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

1974, Tom Waits, “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night”, in The Heart of Saturday Night:

(informal) A red light (a traffic signal)

(Ireland, UK, beverages, informal) Red lemonade

(particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.

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 […]

1982, The Rotarian, volume 140, number 1, page 39:

(US, colloquial, uncountable) Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").

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.

2013 November, Catch Cormier, “Sightcasting for redfish”, in Louisiana Sportsman:

(informal) The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.

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.

2016, Jon Bounds, Danny Smith, Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside:

en-noun

red (countable and uncountable, plural reds)

sekobarbitaali

slang: secobarbital — see also secobarbital

punainen

particle physics: one of the three color charges for quarks

chili

colloquial: chili con carne — see also chili con carne

punarumpukala

fish Sciaenops ocellatus — see also red drum


red

(archaic) simple past and past participle of rede


red

en-verb

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

reds (present singular third-person)
redding (participle present)
redded (participle past)
redded (past)