blondest








adjective, blond·er, blond·est.

  1. (of hair, skin, etc.) light-colored: the child’s soft blond curls.
  2. (of a person) having light-colored hair and skin.
  3. (of furniture wood) light in tone.

noun

  1. a blond person.
  2. silk lace, originally unbleached but now often dyed any of various colors, especially white or black.

adjective

  1. (of a woman or girl) having fair hair and usually fair skin and light eyes.

noun

  1. a woman or girl having this coloration.

adjective

  1. (of men’s hair) of a light colour; fair
  2. (of a person, people or a race) having fair hair, a light complexion, and, typically, blue or grey eyes
  3. (of soft furnishings, wood, etc) light in colour

noun

  1. a person, esp a man, having light-coloured hair and skin

adjective

  1. (of women’s hair) of a light colour; fair
  2. (of a person, people or a race) having fair hair, a light complexion, and, typically, blue or grey eyes
  3. (of soft furnishings, wood, etc) light in colour

noun

  1. a person, esp a woman, having light-coloured hair and skin
  2. Also called: blonde lace a French pillow lace, originally of unbleached cream-coloured Chinese silk, later of bleached or black-dyed silk
adj.

late 15c., from Old French blont “fair, blond” (12c.), from Medieval Latin blundus “yellow,” perhaps from Frankish *blund. If it is a Germanic word, it is possibly related to Old English blonden-feax “gray-haired,” from blondan, blandan “to mix” (see blend (v.)). According to Littré, the original sense of the French word was “a colour midway between golden and light chestnut,” which might account for the notion of “mixed.”

Old English beblonden meant “dyed,” so it is also possible that the root meaning of blonde, if it is Germanic, may be “dyed,” as ancient Teutonic warriors were noted for dying their hair. Du Cange, however, writes that blundus was a vulgar pronunciation of Latin flavus “yellow.” Another guess (discounted by German etymologists), is that it represents a Vulgar Latin *albundus, from alba “white.”

The word was reintroduced into English 17c. from French, and was until recently still felt as French, hence blonde (with French feminine ending) for females. Italian biondo, Spanish blondo, Old Provençal blon all are of Germanic origin.

Fair hair was much esteemed by both the Greeks and Romans, and so they not only dyed and gold-dusted theirs …, but also went so far as to gild the hair of their statues, as notably those of Venus de Medici and Apollo. In the time of Ovid (A.U.C. 711) much fair hair was imported from Germany, by the Romans, as it was considered quite the fashionable color. Those Roman ladies who did not choose to wear wigs of this hue, were accustomed to powder theirs freely with gold dust, so as to give it the fashionable yellow tint. [C. Henry Leonard, “The Hair,” 1879]

late 15c.; see blond (adj.).

n.

c.1755 of a type of lace, 1822 of persons; from blond (adj.).

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