blond
Americanadjective
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(of hair, skin, etc.) light-colored.
the child's soft blond curls.
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(of a person) having light-colored hair and skin.
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(of furniture wood) light in tone.
noun
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a blond person.
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silk lace, originally unbleached but now often dyed any of various colors, especially white or black.
adjective
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(of men'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
Spelling
See blonde.
Usage
What’s the difference between blond and blonde? Blond and blonde 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 blond and blonde.
Other Word Forms
- blondish adjective
- blondness noun
Etymology
Origin of blond
First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French blonde “blond, light brown,” feminine of blond, from Germanic; akin to Old English blondenfeax “gray-haired,” Latin flāvus “yellow” ( see flavo-)
Explanation
Blond isn't just a word used to describe pale yellow hair, it can also be used to describe a person with such hair. We'll leave it to you to decide whether or not blonds have more fun. There's all kinds of blonds out there from bleached to platinum to strawberry to sandy. Some people, Brits especially, will add an e to the end of blonde depending on what gender they are talking about, so that a woman is blonde while a man is blond. The addition of the "e" in the feminine form of blonde is of course a holdover from its French origin. Not only fair-haired people are described as blond; you might have seen blond wood used in Scandinavian furniture. Ikea, anyone?
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.
With his 6-foot frame, blue eyes, and head of thick blond hair with not a strand out of place, he could be a hedge-fund whiz, or a boutique fitness instructor, or a visiting European aristocrat.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
The force believed the woman was in her mid to late teens, with green eyes and brown hair, with darker roots and blond ends.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
If you’re tapped into conversations around Israel online, you may have noticed a certain blond woman who, seemingly out of nowhere, has started popping up all over social media.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
Released in 2010, “Tangled” is Disney’s animated take on the fairy tale “Rapunzel,” about a young princess with long blond magical hair who had been unknowingly kidnapped and secreted away in an isolated tower.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
Jonah whirled around, hoping he could catch up with Sarah Puchini in the aisle, but her blond head was already disappearing through the door back out into the lobby.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
