Blush

How to spell blush

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce blush

What does blush mean?

1. verbTo become red in the face from embarrassment, shame, or modesty.
2. nounA reddening of the face caused by embarrassment or sudden feeling.
3. nounA cosmetic powder or cream applied to the cheeks to add colour.

Blush in a sentence

• verb

  She tends to blush whenever a stranger compliments her work.

• noun

  A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she read the message.

• noun

  She swept a little blush over her cheekbones before the meeting.

• verb

  The unexpected praise made him blush in front of his colleagues.

• noun

  He answered with a slight blush that gave away his nerves.

• noun

  The new blush in her makeup bag gave a soft rosy finish.

Where does blush come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes from the Old English verb blyscan, meaning 'to glow red' or 'to turn red', which was closely tied to blysa, a word for a torch or flame. The underlying Germanic sense was always about a sudden reddening, the way a flame or hot coals give off a deep red glow. Over the medieval period the meaning narrowed to the familiar one: the rush of colour that floods a person's cheeks out of embarrassment or modesty. The spelling stayed pleasingly simple and phonetic, so the only real trap is remembering the single 'l' and the 'sh' ending rather than any doubled letters. A faint trace of its fiery cousins survives in the old phrase 'a blush of dawn', describing the first red light in the sky.

How the word is built

• blush (from Old English blyscan: to glow red, redden)