red.
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.
Meaning & usage
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 can be seen as hot or angry.
A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; (usually capitalized) a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
One of the 15 red balls used in snooker, distinguished from the colours.
Red wine.
Any of several varieties of ale which are brewed with red or kilned malt, giving the beer a red colour.
A red variety of an animal, such as a red kangaroo or a red squirrel.
A redshank.
An American Indian.
The drug secobarbital; a capsule of this drug.
A red light (a traffic signal)
Red lemonade
One of the three color charges for quarks.
Chili con carne (usually in the phrase "bowl of red").
The redfish or red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, a fish with reddish fins and scales.
Tomato ketchup.
A red dye or pigment.
A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of red pigment.
Something, or a part of a thing, which is red.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós Proto-Germanic *raudaz Proto-West Germanic *raud Old English rēad Middle English red English red Inherited from Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ- + *-ós. Cognates See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud, Swedish röd, Faroese reyður, Icelandic rauður; 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”).
Of a red hue.
The girl wore a red skirt.
He was wearing a red jacket.
Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.
Her hair had red highlights.
Having a redder hue than usual due to embarrassment, anger, sunburn, etc.; flushed.
Having a brown color.
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.
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.
the red-black grand coalition in Germany
Supportive of, related to, or dominated by a political party or movement represented by the color red: The U.S. Republican Party.
a red state
a red Congress
Amerind; relating to Amerindians or First Nations.
Of the lower-frequency region of the (typically visible) part of the electromagnetic spectrum which is relevant in the specific observation.
Of a red color charge.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós Proto-Germanic *raudaz Proto-West Germanic *raud Old English rēad Middle English red English red Inherited from Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ- + *-ós. Cognates See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud, Swedish röd, Faroese reyður, Icelandic rauður; 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”).
Used to indicate that the speaker wishes current sexual activity to stop immediately.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós Proto-Germanic *raudaz Proto-West Germanic *raud Old English rēad Middle English red English red Inherited from Middle English red, from Old English rēad, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ- + *-ós. Cognates See also West Frisian read, Low German root, rood, rot, rod, Dutch rood, German rot, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rød, Norwegian Nynorsk raud, Swedish röd, Faroese reyður, Icelandic rauður; 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”).
simple past and past participle of rede
Where this word comes from
From the archaic verb rede.
Alternative spelling of redd.
Try it on your idea.
red has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.