cyan
[sahy-an, sahy-uh n]
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Origin of cyan
First recorded in 1885–90, cyan is from the Greek word kýanos dark blue
cyan-1
- variant of cyano-1, usually before a vowel or h: cyanamide.
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cyan-2
- variant of cyano-2, before a vowel.
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cyan-3
- variant of cyano-3, before a vowel.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cyan
Contemporary Examples
The Daily Pic: Barb Choit shows us old images as they fade to black – or cyan.
Cyan likes the rapper Nicki Minaj and has been known to call Minaj her sister.
Erika Brown said Cyan is the kind of daughter who is almost too forthcoming for her mother.
When the rest of the reporters arrived Wednesday, he would give them the Cyan Brown story.
Erika Brown had spent a half hour with Cyan in the station before she was locked away Tuesday.
Historical Examples
Fus I'se 'blige whup 'im school, 'n' nex' I cyan' git 'im 'way ter bless me!
Cyan′otype, a photograph on paper sensitised by a cyanide; Cyan′uret, a cyanide.
cyan
- a highly saturated green-blue that is the complementary colour of red and forms, with magenta and yellow, a set of primary colours
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- of this coloura cyan filter
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek kuanos dark blue
cyan-
- a variant of cyano- cyanamide; cyanide
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for cyan
n.
1889, short for cyan blue (1879), from Greek kyanos "dark blue, dark blue enamel, lapis lazuli," probably a non-Indo-European word, but perhaps akin to, or from, Hittite *kuwanna(n)- "copper blue."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper