blue
BLUE is a four-letter word for the colour of clear sky or deep sea, worth 6 points in Scrabble and rearrangeable as LUBE.
Adjective 4 meanings
Of a blue hue.
“the deep blue sea”
Depressed, melancholic, sad.
Having a bluish or purplish shade to the skin due to a lack of oxygen to the normally deep-red red blood cells; cyanotic.
“My hands were blue with cold.”
Pale, without redness or glare.
“The candle burns blue.”
Noun 4 meanings
The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours.
Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.
“I don't like red Smarties. Have you got a blue?”
A blue dye or pigment.
Blue clothing.
“The boys in blue marched to the pipers.”
Verb 3 meanings
To make or become blue; to turn blue.
To treat the surface of steel so that it is passivated chemically and becomes more resistant to rust.
To brighten by treating with blue (laundry aid).
Etymology
From Middle English blew, blewe, from Anglo-Norman blew, from Middle French bleu, from Old French blöe, bleve, blef (“blue”), from Frankish *blāu (“blue”) (perhaps through a Late Latin blāvus, blāvius (“blue”) attested from Isidore of Seville), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”).
Similar and opposite words
BLUE is the familiar colour between green and violet, and one of the primary additive colours. The word also names something coloured blue, a blue dye or pigment, and blue clothing. Its everyday meaning is straightforward; its word-game details are less obvious: BLUE has just one anagram, while changing one letter produces nine neighbours.
BLUE at a glance
- BLUE has four letters and is a common English word.
- BLUE scores 6 points in Scrabble: B is worth 3, and L, U, and E are worth 1 each.
- LUBE is the sole anagram of BLUE.
- Nine words sit one letter away from BLUE, including CLUE, GLUE, and BLUR.
- BLUE rhymes with 12 words, including CLUE, GLUE, and TRUEBLUE.
What is the BLUE meaning?
BLUE means the colour of the clear sky or deep sea. More precisely, it is the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum, and one of the primary additive colours. That gives the word both an everyday reference and a more technical colour sense.
The word can also name an object distinguished by its colour, a blue dye or pigment, or blue clothing. In a sentence, “a blue” can stand for something blue when the colour sets it apart from similar objects. Those related senses keep the definition broader than the colour alone.
BLUE meaning, Scrabble score, and neighbours
BLUE scores 6 Scrabble points before any board bonuses. B supplies 3 points; L, U, and E contribute 1 apiece. The score is modest because only B carries extra value, so placing the word across a premium square matters more than its letter mix.
LUBE is the only anagram: it uses the same four letters in a different order. One-letter neighbours include familiar alternatives such as CLUE and GLUE, plus BLUR. Other neighbours—BLEE, BLUB, BLAE, PLUE, and SLUE—are less familiar, so check your game's word list before relying on them.
The rhyme set also has familiar choices: CLUE, GLUE, and VALUE. Longer matches include DEVALUE and OVERVALUE, while TRUEBLUE shares the sound and the spelling of BLUE. BLUE is accepted in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE; its main limitation for play is that several of its one-letter neighbours are obscure.
Rhymes with blue
All rhymesOne letter away
- CLUE6
- GLUE5
- BLUR6
- FLUE7
- BLUB8
- BLEE6
- SLUE4
- PLUE6
- BLAE6
Questions people ask
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