Etymograph

English

blush

Blush comes from Old English blysċan ‘to be red’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150blysċan‘to be red’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blusshen
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592blush

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150blysċan‘to be red’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500blusshen
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592blush

Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege, Whom…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ‘to sound’

ball, bowl, bell, bull, bold, flame, bald, boil, bale, blaze, blizzard, bolster, bleach, budge, sabha, blur, bola, phlegm, bolero, blemish, phlox, blithe, phallus, blain, bleat, 74 more

Today it means

noun An act of blushing; a pink or red glow on the face caused by embarrassment, shame, shyness, love, etc.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old English blysċan / blush

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