The Many Colors of Livid

We heard from Dan O’Neill in Fairbanks, Alaska, who writes,

What common English word is alternately described as reddish, whitish, and bluish?

Livid.

How did you know that?

L-I-V-I-T.

I think I read it when I was reading Dickens or something as a kid, and I looked it up, and I was like, wait, how can it mean all these things?

It’s like, English, get your act together.

Livid, L-I-V-I-D.

There’s got to be an etymology here, Martha.

Yeah, well, in Latin, it means a bluish color or black and blue, like a bruise, and it came to figuratively mean envious or spiteful or malicious.

But then later on, for some reason in English, it also took on the meaning of ashen or pallid.

And it can also mean reddish.

Oh, yeah.

So if you’re livid with rage, maybe you’re reddish.

But also sometimes people’s, all the blood drains from their face when they’re enraged as well, right?

So lots of things can happen when you’re enraged.

Yeah.

So strange word.

I think you’re right.

We should make that our motto.

English, get your act together.

Help us get English’s act together.

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Or tell us where English doesn’t have its act together

In email words@waywordradio.org.