adjectivea. Of the color of blood; red.
b. Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
- Archaic
a. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
b. Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
- Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English
Origin: , from Old French sanguin
Origin: , from Latin sanguineus
Origin: , from sanguis, sanguin-, blood
.
Related Forms:
- sanˈguine·ness, san·guinˈi·ty noun
Word History: The similarity in form between
sanguine, “cheerfully optimistic,” and
sanguinary, “bloodthirsty,” may prompt one to wonder how they have come to have such different meanings. The explanation lies in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors or bodily fluids (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). The relative proportions of these fluids was thought to determine a person's temperament. If blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called
sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word
sanguine. The source of the Middle English word was Old French
sanguin, itself from Latin
sanguineus. Both the Old French and Latin words meant “bloody,” “blood-colored,” Old French
sanguin having the sense “sanguine in temperament” as well. Latin
sanguineus was in turn derived from
sanguis, “blood,” just as English
sanguinary is. The English adjective
sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, continues to refer to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament but no longer has any direct reference to medieval physiology.