rouge

¹ American  

[roozh] / ruʒ /

noun

1. any of various red cosmetics for coloring the cheeks or lips.

2. a reddish powder, chiefly ferric oxide, used for polishing metal, glass, etc.

3. Canadian football.

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verb (used with object)

rouged, rouging

1. to color with rouge.

verb (used without object)

rouged, rouging

1. to use rouge.

rouge ² American  

[roozh] / ruʒ /

adjective

French.

1. red; noting the red numbers in roulette.

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rouge British  

/ ruːʒ /

noun

1. a red powder, used as a cosmetic for adding redness to the cheeks

2. short for jeweller's rouge

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verb

1. to apply rouge to

Other Word Forms

• unrouged adjective

Etymology

Origin of rouge

1475–85; < French: red < Latin rubeus; akin to red ¹

Example Sentences

I scooped up a pét-nat rouge, a rosé and a red blend on my way out of town at Yakima’s Apple Valley Emporium, a combination skateboard and bottle shop.

From Seattle Times • May 18, 2024

Adam Fournier, their bar director, describes their spirit-free rose champagne, containing rose petal, Sakura white tea, verjus rouge and "a smattering of other small components we force carbonate."

From Salon • Dec. 31, 2023

Joel Embiid will wear red, white and blue in Paris next summer - not rouge, blanc and bleu.

From Washington Times • Oct. 5, 2023

Un monstre aux yeux rouge lance des regards mauvais près du Centre Georges Pompidou.

From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2023

If this was not enough, they wore clip-on earbobs of various colored rhinestones and circles of rouge on their brown cheeks.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd