Word of the Day

: November 1, 2011

cerulean

adjective suh-ROO-lee-un

What It Means

: resembling the blue of the sky

cerulean in Context

The painting depicted a series of tall, verdant trees surrounding a cerulean lake.

"I try to summon the Russian fairy tale about the prince in exile and his beautiful swan-princess …. I think of cerulean-blue waves, a swirling red skirt and a silver-white moon." -- From Mira Bartok's 2011 memoir The Memory Palace

Did You Know?

"Cerulean" comes from the Latin word "caeruleus," which means "dark blue" and is most likely from "caelum," the Latin word for "sky." An artist rendering a sky of blue in oils or watercolors might choose a tube of cerulean blue pigment. Birdwatchers in the eastern U.S. might look skyward and see a cerulean warbler (Dendroica cerulea). "Cerulean" is not the only color name that’s closely associated with the sky. "Azure" (which ultimately comes from a Persian word for lapis lazuli, a rich blue stone) describes the color of a cloudless sky and can even be a noun meaning "the unclouded sky."