indigo

CEFRB2

/ˈɪn.dɪˌɡəʊ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A deep blue-purple color.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A blue-colored dye obtained from certain plants (indigo plant or woad), or a similar synthetic dye.

Examples

  • A rainbow consists of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

  • Jeans manufacturers make denim bluer with indigo dye.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈɪn.dɪˌɡo/
  • /ˈɪndɪˌɡoʊ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A greenish dark blue color; the color of indigo dye.

  2. A purplish-blue color.

  3. An indigo plant, such as from species in genera Indigofera, Amorpha (false indigo), Baptisia (wild indigo), and Psorothamnus and Dalea (indigo bush).

More examples

In context

  • A Southern planter has been sowing indigo and cotton together. Perhaps he contemplates raising blue cotton; and should he wa­ter the plants with nitric acid, he would probably raise gun cotton—if any.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The artist chose a deep blue pigment known as blank for the painting.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

16th century (as indico, modern spelling from the 17th century), Spanish índigo, Portuguese endego (modern índigo), or Dutch (via Portuguese) indigo, all from Latin indicum (“indigo”), from Ancient Greek ἰνδικόν (indikón, “Indian dye”), from Ἰνδία (Indía). Doublet of Indic.