Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#AZURECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#AZURE asure, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#AZURE azur, derived from ArabicCategory:English terms derived from Arabic#AZURE لَازَوَرْد (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Classical PersianCategory:English terms derived from Classical Persian#AZURE لاجورد (lājward, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Badakhshan.

Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒə/, /ˈæz.jʊə/, /ˈæʒjʊə/, /əˈzjʊə/Category:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#AZURE, (rarely) /ˈeɪ.ʒə/

  • Audio (Received Pronunciation):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#AZURE
  • Homophone: Asia (/ˈeɪʒə/)Category:English terms with homophones#AZURE
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæʒɚ/, /ˈæz.jʊɹ/Category:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#AZURE, /əˈzʊɹ/, /əˈʒʊɹ/, (rarely) /əˈzjʊɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#AZURE
• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ), -ɜː(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ʊə(ɹ)#AZURECategory:Rhymes:English/ʊə(ɹ)/2 syllables#AZURECategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)#AZURECategory:Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)/2 syllables#AZURE

/ˈæʒə(ɹ)/ is the first (sometimes only) pronunciation listed in many dictionaries^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} and is the most commonly used.^[7] Second-most commonly mentioned is /ˈæzjʊə(ɹ)/.^[2][4][5][6] Though missed by most other dictionaries, /əˈz(j)ʊə(ɹ)/ and /əˈʒʊə(ɹ)/ with stress on the second syllable are also common.^[7]

• Other, uncommon^[7] pronunciations are /ˈæʒʊə(ɹ)/^[8] and /ˈæʒjʊə(ɹ)/^[2][6] In older English, /ˈeɪ-/ also occurred and is still recorded in some dictionaries,^[2] but rarely used.

Noun

azure (countable and uncountable, plural azures)Category:English lemmas#AZURECategory:English nouns#AZURECategory:English uncountable nouns#AZURECategory:English countable nouns#AZURECategory:English countable nouns#AZURECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#AZURE and uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#AZURE) The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk:

     In robes of azure.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2014, William H. Gass, On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry, page 59:

     For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazulis, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy, and marine […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

   azure:  

2. (heraldryCategory:en:Heraldic tinctures#AZURE) A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
   • 1904, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory, London : T.C.; & E.C. Jack, page 41:

     Berington of Chester (on the authority of Harleian manuscript No. 1535) is said to bear a plain shield of azure. Personally I doubt this coat of arms  […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

   • 1997, Brault, Early Blazon:

     In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

   • 2010, E. Baumgaertner Wm E. Baumgaertner, Wm E. Baumgaertner, Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

     Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy: before 1399: or, a lion rampant azure, differentiated with a label gules (a blue lion rampant on a field of gold, differentiated with a red label signifying the first-born son) […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

   azure (heraldry):  

3. (poeticCategory:English poetic terms#AZURE) The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Not like those steps / On heaven's azure.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

   • 1889, Mathilde Blind, “[Poems of the Open Air.] Reapers.”, in The Ascent of Man, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 140:

     Not a single cloud mars the flawless azure; / Not a shadow moves o'er the moveless crops; [...]

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

4. Any of various widely distributed lycaenid butterflies of the genus Celastrina.
5. Any of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus OgyrisCategory:Entries using missing taxonomic name (genus)#Ogyris.
6. Lapis lazuli.

Adjective

azure (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#AZURECategory:English adjectives#AZURECategory:English uncomparable adjectives#AZURECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. Sky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky.

   Synonym: cerulean

   • 1740, James Thomson, Rule, Britannia!:

     When Britain first, at Heaven's command / Arose from out the azure main.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
2. Cloudless.
3. (heraldryCategory:en:Heraldic tinctures#AZURE) In blazon, of the colour blue.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1957 February, “B.T.C. Armorial Bearings”, in Railway Magazine, page 81:

     On the fesse are two bars wavy azure for waterways.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

Verb

azure (third-person singular simple present azures, present participle azuring, simple past and past participle azured)Category:English lemmas#AZURECategory:English verbs#AZURECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#AZURE) To colour blue.
   • 1907, The Sugar Beet, volume 28, page 271:

     Our readers are aware that much of the sugar sold in many countries goes through an azuring treatment; blue is added to granulated sugar with the view of making it appear whiter than it actually is.

     Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

See also

	metals		main colours				less common colours
tincture	or	argent	gules	azure	sable	vert	purpure	tenné	orange	sanguine
depiction
roundel (in parentheses: semé):	bezant (bezanty)	plate (platy)	torteau (tortelly)	hurt (hurty)	pellet (pellety), ogress	pomme (pommy)	golpe (golpy)	orange (semé of oranges)		guze (semé of guzes)
goutte (noun) / gutty (adjective) thereof:	(goutte / gutty) d'or (of gold)	d'eau (of water)	de sang (of blood)	de larmes (of tears)	de poix (of pitch)	d'huile / d'olive (olive oil)
	special roundel	furs								uncommon tinctures:
tincture	fountain, syke: barry wavy argent–azure	ermine	ermines, counter-ermine	erminois	pean	vair	counter-vair	potent	counter-potent	bleu celeste, brunâtre, carnation, cendrée (iron, steel, acier), copper, murrey
depiction

References

Further reading

• 2015 March 26, Jeremy Butterfield, Fowler's Dictionary of Modern [British] English Usage, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 85:

  azure. This 14c. loanword from French has fluctuated in pronunciation in the last two centuries between /ˈaʒ(j)ʊə/, /ˈaʒə/ (OED, 1885, Daniel Jones, 1917, but both cite other pronunciations as well), and /ˈeɪ-/ (given as a variant in OED and Jones). The initial sound is now usually /a-/ as in cat, not /eɪ-/, as in pay. The final sound varies between /-ʒjʊə/ rhyming with pure /pjʊə/ (the dominant pronunciation) and /-ə/.

  Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

• 2015 March 30, Greg Brooks, Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, Open Book Publishers, →ISBN, page 190:

  […] azure pronounced /ˈæzjʊə, ˈeɪzjʊə/ (also pronounced /ˈæzjə, ˈeɪzjə, ˈæʒə, ˈeɪʒə/)

  Category:English terms with quotations#AZURE

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.zyʁ/Category:French 2-syllable words#AZURECategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#AZURE

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#AZURE
• Homophones: azurent, azuresCategory:French terms with homophones#AZURE

Verb

azureCategory:French non-lemma forms#AZURECategory:French verb forms#AZURECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. inflection of azurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Noun

azureCategory:Middle English lemmas#AZURECategory:Middle English nouns#AZURECategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. alternative form of asure

Noun

azure m (uncountable)Category:Portuguese lemmas#AZURECategory:Portuguese nouns#AZURECategory:Portuguese uncountable nouns#AZURECategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#AZURECategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#AZURECategory:Pages with entries#AZURECategory:Pages with 4 entries#AZURE

1. alternative form of azur