red line

See also: redline

English

An ice hockey rink

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

red line (plural red lines)

1. (ice hockey) The thick red line on the ice which divides the rink in half.
2. (figuratively) A boundary or limit which should not be crossed.
   • 2013 May 4, Daniel Byman, “Mr. Obama, Don’t Draw That Line”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The administration’s ultimatum now seems like cheap talk, and it illustrates the risks of carelessly drawing red lines and issuing highly public threats that won’t be enforced.

   • 2023 September 6, Christian Wolmar, “Rail strikes: little prospect of negotiations”, in RAIL, number 991, page 44:

     After a failed attempt by ministers to bounce the union into an agreement by announcing its terms (which included all sorts of union red lines such as drivers having to pay for their own training) in the media rather than over the negotiation table, there is an understandable reluctance on the part of the unions to engage in any discussions unless there are no preconditions.

   • 2024 October 28, Scott Peterson, “Israeli strikes inside Iran cross a threshold. How will Iran respond?”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[2]:

     “Now that the red line of overt and direct strikes on Iran’s soil has turned pink, Israel is playing to its own strength and exploiting Iran’s conventional weakness,” [Ali Vaez] adds.

Translations

a boundary or limit which should not be crossed

• Albanian: vijë e kuqe f, linjë e kuqe f
• Arabic: خَطّ أَحْمَر m (ḵaṭṭ ʔaḥmar)
• Armenian: կարմիր գիծ (hy) (karmir gic)
• Azerbaijani: qırmızı xətt
• Belarusian: чырво́ная лі́нія f (čyrvónaja línija)
• Bulgarian: черве́на ли́ния f (červéna línija)
• Catalan: línia vermella (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 紅線／红线 (hung⁴ sin³)

  Mandarin: 紅線／红线 (zh) (hóngxiàn)

• Czech: červená čára f
• Danish: rød linje c
• Dutch: rode lijn f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: punane joon
• Finnish: punainen viiva
• French: ligne rouge (fr) f
• Georgian: წითელი ხაზი (c̣iteli xazi)
• German: rote Linie (de) f
• Hebrew: קו אדום / קַו אָדֹם m (kav 'adóm)
• Hindi: लाल रेखा f (lāl rekhā)
• Hungarian: piros vonal
• Italian: linea rossa f
• Japanese: レッドライン (reddo rain), 赤線 (あかせん, akasen), 赤い線 (あかいせん, akai sen)
• Kazakh: қызыл сызық (qyzyl syzyq)
• Korean: 붉은 실 (bulgeun sil)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: xeta sor (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: кызыл сызык (kızıl sızık)
• Latvian: sarkanā līnija f
• Lithuanian: raudona linija f
• Macedonian: црвена линија f (crvena linija)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rød linje m or f

• Persian:

  Dari: خَطِّ قِرْمِز (xatt-i qirmiz)

  Iranian Persian: خَطِّ قِرْمِز (xatt-e ğermez)

• Polish: czerwona linia f
• Portuguese: linha vermelha f
• Romanian: linie roșie f
• Russian: кра́сная ли́ния (ru) f (krásnaja línija), кра́сная черта́ f (krásnaja čertá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: црвена црта f, црвена линија f

  Roman: crvena crta f, crvena linija f

• Slovak: červená čiara f
• Slovene: rdeča črta f
• Spanish: línea roja f
• Swedish: röd linje c
• Tajik: хати сурх (xat-i surx)
• Turkish: kırmızı cizgi
• Ukrainian: черво́на лі́нія f (červóna línija)
• Uzbek: qizil chiziq
• Vietnamese: lằn ranh đỏ

a line dividing ice rink in half

• Arabic: خَطّ أَحْمَر m (ḵaṭṭ ʔaḥmar)
• Czech: červená čára f
• German: rote Linie (de) f

See also

• blue line
• goal line (“thin red lines in front of the goals”)
• green line
• redline (verb)
• single yellow line

Further reading

• “red line”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “red line”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “red line”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• Nile red, relined