Talk:blonde

Perhaps some clarity can be provided. I'm no etymologist, so I'm not an authority, but I get the sense that "blonde" is the US spelling (masucline and feminine), and "blond" is a UK masculine version. That is not made clear in this listing.


 * Really? I've only ever seen "blond" used by Americans, with the feminine/masculine distinction almost exclusively made as blonde/blond in the UK. Generally, Americans I know don't even seem to be aware of the E spelling. Kounagihishouka 07:11, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Given that English adjectives as a rule do not agree by gender, blonde should only be used as a noun. Therefore she is a blonde, but she is blond, a blond woman or her hair is blond, not she is blonde, a blonde woman or her hair is blonde. The last example is particularly nonsensical as the adjective seems to agree with the noun hair and not with the pronoun her, and hair does not have any kind of sex or gender in English (and neither its cognates in other Germanic languages nor French cheveu are feminine: in French, you say ses cheveux sont blonds, not blondes). It's just illogical and inconsistent from the point of view of English grammar to use blonde as an adjective; it's a completely unnecessary complication. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 16:47, 27 June 2016 (UTC)


 * Well, they also usually say "a Latina girlfriend" and suchlike. As long as the adjective really refers to a person, I see no problem. What really bothers me too, is such absurdities as "his blond hair" versus "her blonde hair". I've come across this very example myself. It really shows how incomprehensible the concept of adjective agreement is to most English speakers. 78.54.107.121 22:00, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

complexion
What, this also refers to the skin? I thought it was just the hair. DAVilla 05:26, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Usage
From the OED:

adjective
(also blond)(chiefly of hair)
 * 1) fair or pale yellow
 * her long blonde hair
 * I had my hair dyed blonde.


 * 1) having hair of a fair or pale yellow color
 * a tall blonde woman'


 * 1) having fair hair and a light complexion ...
 * she was blonde and blue-eyed ...

And maybe someone forgot to tell M-W as well:

—spelled blond when used of a boy or man and often blonde when used of a girl or woman


 * She has blonde highlights in her hair.

M-W and OED (retrived 29 Nov 11) agree that "blonde" with an "e" can also be used as an adjective when describing females. And since M-W is a US based wordbook, it also highlights that blonde with an "e" is still in use in the US as well. --AnWulf ... Ferþu Hal! 04:26, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

RFC discussion: February–July 2011
Etymology for the most part, isn't one. It's just general discussion about the word. Mglovesfun (talk) 12:57, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Done, almost. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:45, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Now, see . DCDuring TALK 11:14, 20 July 2011 (UTC)