blond

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French blond m, from Old French blond, blont, 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”). More at blend.

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”).

Pronunciation

Noun

blond (plural blonds)

  1. A pale yellowish (golden brown) color, especially said of hair color.
    blond colour:  
  2. A person with this hair color.

Usage notes

  • This word can vary according to gender, with “blond” being used of males and “blonde” of females, following French usage. However, some writers, especially in the United States, treat the spellings as interchangeable and use both gender-neutrally.
  • Traditional terms for light hair are fair(-haired), fairheaded, flaxen, tow-haired, yellow-haired, and towhead(ed).

Translations

Adjective

A girl with light blonde hair

blond (comparative blonder or more blond, superlative blondest or most blond)

  1. Of a bleached or pale golden (light yellowish) colour.
    blond hair
    blonde ale; blonde beer
    • 1914, in the American Anthropologist:
      She has a blond complexion, with brown hair and gray eyes.
    • 2011 Feb, “Beauty Confessions”, in Redbook, volume 216, number 2, page 60:
      If you're going one or two shades lighter, don't even touch your brows. But if you're making a big change, soften them by tinting them with home haircolor: a lighter shade of brown for blonder shades, a golden shade if you're dyeing your hair red.
  2. (of a person) Having blond hair.
    • 1956, James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room, Penguin, 2001, Part Two, Chapter 2,
      He seemed—somehow—younger than I had ever been, and blonder and more beautiful, and he wore his masculinity as unequivocally as he wore his skin.
    • 2012 Jan, “The Best Blonde Hair Color in Hollywood”, in Cosmopolitan‎:
      Blonde bombshells have been around since the beginning of time, but lately, stars have really been stepping up their golden-haired game.
  3. (of a female) Alternative spelling of blonde (stupid)
    • 2010, Mariah Stewart, Moon Dance, Simon and Schuster →ISBN
      “She was so blond, that where it said 'sign here,' she wrote Gemini.” He had given her only the weakest of smiles.
    • 2002, Michael Jay, The Altherian Code, iUniverse →ISBN, page 118
      Katelyn's laugh was nearly uncontrollable. “You are so blond sometimes,” she said with a long laughing sigh, but then calmed herself down.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Derived terms

See also

Verb

blond (third-person singular simple present blonds, present participle blonding, simple past and past participle blonded)

  1. To color or dye blond

Central Franconian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /blɔnt/

Etymology 1

From Old High German blind, northern variant of blint.

Alternative forms

  • blönd
  • blend (many dialects)
  • blenk (Ripuarian; now chiefly western dialects)

Adjective

blond (masculine blonne, feminine blonn, comparative blonner, superlative et blondste)

  1. (Eifel) blind; unable to see

Etymology 2

From French blond, probably via German.

Adjective

blond (masculine blonde, feminine blond, comparative blonder, superlative et blondste)

  1. blond; fair

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • audio(file)

Adjective

blond (comparative blonder, superlative blondst)

  1. of light colour (usually said about light hair colour, but it can also refer to beer)

Inflection

Inflection of blond
uninflected blond
inflected blonde
comparative blonder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial blondblonderhet blondst
het blondste
indefinite m./f. sing. blondeblondereblondste
n. sing. blondblonderblondste
plural blondeblondereblondste
definite blondeblondereblondste
partitive blondsblonders—

French

Etymology

Of Germanic origin: probably from Frankish *blund (“a mixed color between golden and light-brown”), from Proto-Germanic *blundaz (“mixed, blinding”). Compare Italian biondo, Occitan blon.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /blɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

blond (feminine singular blonde, masculine plural blonds, feminine plural blondes)

  1. pale golden-brown in colour, usually said of hair
  2. (informal) naïve

Noun

blond m (plural blonds, feminine blonde)

  1. the colour blond; a golden-brown
  2. someone with blond hair

Further reading

German

Etymology

From modern French blond, from Frankish *blund, from Proto-Germanic *blundaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlendʰ-. The earlier borrowing Middle High German blunt was rare and had no continuation in early modern German.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /blɔnt/

Adjective

blond (comparative blonder, superlative am blondesten)

  1. blond; fair
    Blonde Haare sind vor allem bei den Völkern germanischer und slawischer Abstammung verbreitet.
    Blond hair is primarily common among the peoples of Germanic and Slavic descent.
  2. (of beer) bright; not brown or yeasty
  3. (colloquial, possibly offensive) stupid; naive
    Das war so blond von mir!
    That was so stupid of me!

Declension

Comparative forms of blond
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter all genders
predicative er ist blonder sie ist blonder es ist blonder sie sind blonder
strong declension
(without article)		 nominative blonderer blondere blonderes blondere
genitive blonderen blonderer blonderen blonderer
dative blonderem blonderer blonderem blonderen
accusative blonderen blondere blonderes blondere
weak declension
(with definite article)		 nominative der blondere die blondere das blondere die blonderen
genitive des blonderen der blonderen des blonderen der blonderen
dative dem blonderen der blonderen dem blonderen den blonderen
accusative den blonderen die blondere das blondere die blonderen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		 nominative ein blonderer eine blondere ein blonderes (keine) blonderen
genitive eines blonderen einer blonderen eines blonderen (keiner) blonderen
dative einem blonderen einer blonderen einem blonderen (keinen) blonderen
accusative einen blonderen eine blondere ein blonderes (keine) blonderen

Synonyms

  • (fair): fahl; gelb (both dated in this sense)
  • (of beer): hell

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French blond.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /blond/

Adjective

blond m, n (feminine singular blondă, masculine plural blonzi, feminine and neuter plural blonde)

  1. blond

Declension

Synonyms

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • audio(file)

Adjective

blond

  1. blond; of light hair colour
  2. blond; of light complexion
  3. Synonym: ljushyllt

Declension

Inflection of blond
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular blond blondare blondast
Neuter singular blont blondare blondast
Plural blonda blondare blondast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 blonde blondare blondaste
All blonda blondare blondaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
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