cerulean

English

WOTD – 21 December 2008

Alternative forms

• cærulean

Etymology

From Latin caeruleus (“blue”) +‎ -an, from caelum (“sky, heaven”) +‎ -uleus (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈɹuːli.ən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ce‧ru‧le‧an

Noun

cerulean (countable and uncountable, plural ceruleans)

1. (countable and uncountable, color) A greenish-blue color.

   cerulean:  

   • 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry, page 59:

     For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]

2. (countable) Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Jamides.

Translations

sky blue

• Bulgarian: небесносин (nebesnosin), лазурен (bg) (lazuren)
• Catalan: ceruli (ca) m
• Esperanto: ĉielbluo
• Finnish: taivaansini (fi)
• French: bleu céruléen m
• German: tiefblau; himmelblau
• Irish: ceiriúlach m
• Italian: ceruleo (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: セルリアンブルー (serurian burū)
• Polish: modry (pl) m
• Portuguese: cerúleo (pt) m
• Romanian: albastru (ro)
• Russian: си́ний (ru) m (sínij)
• Spanish: cerúleo (es) m
• Swedish: himmelsblå (sv)

Adjective

cerulean (comparative more cerulean, superlative most cerulean)

A cerulean sky.

1. Sky-blue.
   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter II

     As far to the west as Monica could see, her world was a sea of fog, … . Above it arched a cerulean sky; as the sun climbed to the zenith, …, the fog gradually took on a bluish tinge.

Translations

sky-blue

• Bulgarian: небесно син (nebesno sin)
• Catalan: ceruli (ca)
• Finnish: taivaansininen (fi)
• French: céruléen (fr)
• Irish: ceiriúlach
• Italian: ceruleo (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: небе́сно-голубо́й (ru) (nebésno-golubój), лазу́рный (ru) (lazúrnyj), лазо́ревый (ru) (lazórevyj)
• Spanish: cerúleo (es)
• Swedish: himmelsblå (sv)
• Tatar: шямяхя (şyamyaxya)

See also

• (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, dark blue, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, light blue, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre ^{(Category: en:Blues)}

Anagrams

• Laurence, crenulae