Blond: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:15, 25 March 2006

Revision as of 16:40, 25 March 2006

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==Etymology, spelling, and grammar==

The adjective is a relatively recent borrowing into [[English language|English]] from [[French language|French]] (the traditional English terms for blond being "fair-haired", "flaxen", or "tow-haired"). The French word, andin carefulturn, derives from the medieval. Careful writers in English still distinguish between the [[masculine]] ''blond'' and the feminine ''blonde''.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/64/C005/002.html "Blond/Brunet"] from [[The American Heritage Book of English Usage]] (1996)</ref> However, mostmany English speakers dowill notoften use either one without regard to the French system of [[grammatical gender]] along with the word. They often confuse the two, althoughand the feminie form is more common. This is likely because it is also used aswithout a nounclear meaningmajority "ausage blondeone person"way (seeor [[blonde jokes]]). The French word, in turn, derives from the medievalanother.

The word&#8212;with one spelling or the other&#8212;is also occasionally used to refer to objects that have a colour reminiscent of fair hair. Examples include dolls' hair, pale wood, and [[lager]] [[beer]].