blonde
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
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(of women's hair) of a light colour; fair
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(of a person, people or a race) having fair hair, a light complexion, and, typically, blue or grey eyes
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(of soft furnishings, wood, etc) light in colour
noun
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a person, esp a woman, having light-coloured hair and skin
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Also called: blonde lace. a French pillow lace, originally of unbleached cream-coloured Chinese silk, later of bleached or black-dyed silk
Spelling
The spelling blonde is still widely used for the noun that specifies a woman or girl with fair hair: The blonde with the baby in her arms is my anthropology professor. Some people object to this as an unnecessary distinction, preferring blond for all people: My sister is thinking of becoming a blond for a while. As an adjective, the word is more usually spelled blond in reference to all people ( an energetic blond girl; two blond sons ), although the form blonde is occasionally still used of a female: the blonde model and her escort. The spelling blond is almost always used for the adjective describing hair, complexion, etc.: His daughter has blond hair and hazel eyes.
Usage
What’s the difference between blonde and blond? Blonde and blond are both adjectives most commonly used to describe the color of light or yellowish hair or someone who has such hair. They can also both be used as nouns referring to a person with such hair, as in Should I make this character a blond or a redhead? They are pronounced exactly the same. But there is a difference: the spelling blonde is typically used in a gender-specific way to refer to or describe women and girls with this hair color. In contrast, the use of blond in a gender-neutral way is very common. And when the word is used as an adjective, this spelling is much more commonly used, regardless of the gender of the person whose hair color is being described.Blond and blonde derive from French, which has grammatical gender, meaning that some words end differently depending on whether they are applied to men or women (with e being the feminine ending). This happens in a few other pairs of words in English, like confidant and confidante, though in many cases the term without the e has become largely gender-neutral. This is the case with blond, which is the more commonly used of the two.When describing the colors of things other than hair, such as wood or coffee, only the spelling blond is used.When in doubt, remember that the spelling blond is appropriate in all cases.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between blonde and blond.
Other Word Forms
- blondeness noun
Etymology
Origin of blonde
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I am returning to the big ice," the skater from Kazan announced on Telegram earlier this month, her formerly brunette hair now streaked with blonde highlights.
From Barron's
The area, she says, that gave her "Northern blonde ambition".
From BBC
She looks like my mom when she’s a blonde.
From Literature
She spoke softly with her blonde hair tied back in a bun while her lawyers asked that she be given proper medical treatment, including an xray of potentially bruised ribs and a fracture.
From BBC
Bardot starred in nearly 50 films including And God Created Woman and Contempt, setting fashion trends with her tousled blonde hair and bold eyeliner, before becoming the model for Marianne, the personified symbol of France.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
