blond
UK /blɒnd/ · US /blɑnd/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms blonder blondest blonds blonding blonded blonde
- adjective Of a bleached or pale golden (light yellowish) colour. “blond hair”
- adjective Particularly of a person, having blond hair.
- noun A pale yellowish (golden brown) color, especially said of hair color.
- noun (countable) A person with this hair color.
- noun (countable) A beer of a pale golden color.
- verb (transitive) To color or dye blond.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
fair-haired flaxen golden-haired platinum auricomous blondette Traditional terms for light hair are fair(-haired) fairheaded tow-haired yellow-haired and towhead(ed) blonde light-haired
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French blond m, from Old French blond, blont, blund, (> Medieval Latin blondus), from Frankish *blund (“a mixed color between golden and light-brown”), from Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“mixed, blinding”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ- (“to become turbid, see badly, go blind”). Compare Old English blondenfeax (“grey-haired”), Old English blandan (“to mix”). See more at blend.
An alternative etymology connects Frankish *blund to Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“blond”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥ndʰ-, *bʰlendʰ- (“blond, red-haired”). If so, then it would be cognate with Sanskrit ब्रध्न (bradhná, “ruddy, pale red, yellowish”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F., fair, light, of uncertain origin; cf. AS. blonden-feax gray-haired, old, prop. blended-haired, as a mixture of white and brown or black. See Blend, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “blond”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details