ruddy

adjective

rud·​dy ˈrə-dē 

ruddier; ruddiest

1

: having a healthy reddish color

ruddy cheeks

2

: red, reddish

Gold and purple clouds lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery white peaks …

—Louisa May Alcott

3

British

—used as an intensive

Bellowed like a ruddy bull when she wanted food …

—Doreen Tovey

ruddily

ˈrə-də-lē 

adverb

ruddiness

ˈrə-dē-nəs 

noun

Did you know?

In Old English, there were two related words referring to red coloring: rēad and rudu. Rēad evolved into our present-day red. Rudu evolved into rud (a word now encountered only in dialect or archaic usage) and ruddy. Most often, ruddy is applied to the face when it has the red glow of good health or is red from a suffusion of blood from exercise or excitement. It is also used in the names of some birds, such as the American ruddy duck. In British English, ruddy is also used as a colorful euphemism for the sometimes offensive intensive bloody, as 20th-century English writer Sir Kingsley Amis illustrates in The Riverside Villas Murder: "Ruddy marvelous, the way these coppers' minds work.... I take a swing at Chris Inman in public means I probably done him in."

Synonyms of ruddy

• glowing
• tanned
• red
• rosy
• warm
• flush
• brown
• rubicund

Examples of ruddy in a Sentence

She has a ruddy face.

the ruddy surface of Mars

Recent Examples on the Web

These are massive stars in their later stages, swollen and ruddy, shining bright across the cosmos. —Paul Sutter, Space.com, 3 May 2026

The color is a deep, ruddy amber brown, and the nose is full of alcohol and oak. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 21 Apr. 2026

For the longest time, residents in the ruddy north of blue California have agitated for a breakaway state called Jefferson. —Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 14 Apr. 2026

Mulligan, fifty-three and ruddy, had been driving professionally since 1985. —Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English rody, rudy, going back to Old English rudi (attested once), from rudu "red color, redness" (going back to a Germanic base *ruđ-, zero-grade ablaut of *rauđa- "red," whence also Old Icelandic roði "redness") + -i, -ig -y entry 1 — more at red entry 1

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing ruddy

• ruddy duck
• ruddy well

Rhymes for ruddy

• bloody
• buddy
• cuddy
• muddy
• scudi
• study
• restudy
• understudy

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Kids Definition

ruddy

adjective

rud·​dy ˈrəd-ē 

ruddier; ruddiest

1

: having a healthy reddish color

2

: red entry 1 sense 1, reddish

ruddily

ˈrəd-ᵊl-ē 

adverb

ruddiness

ˈrəd-ē-nəs 

noun

Medical Definition

ruddy

adjective

rud·​dy ˈrəd-ē 

ruddier; ruddiest

: having a healthy reddish color

a ruddy complexion