sanguine

Etymology

From Middle English sanguine, from Old French sanguin, ultimately from Latin sanguineus (“of blood”), from sanguis (“blood”), of uncertain origin, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). Doublet of sanguineous.

adj

1. (literary) Having the colour of blood; blood red.
2. (obsolete, physiology) Having a bodily constitution characterised by a preponderance of blood over the other bodily humours, thought to be marked by irresponsible mirth; indulgent in pleasure to the exclusion of important matters.
3. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.
   a sanguine bodily temperament
   Eleonore Lemindre, aged 34, tailoress, of a sanguine lymphatic temperament, having suffered great depression of spirits, experienced, in the course of 1820, symptoms of what is called disease of the heart. 1833, R. J. Bertin, translated by Charles W. Chauncy, Treatise on the Diseases of the Heart, and Great Vessels, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blnachard, page 188
4. Warm; ardent.
   a sanguine temper
5. Anticipating the best; optimistic; confident; full of hope.
   I'm sanguine about the eventual success of the project.
   When the railway was opened on August 2, 1897, it was expected that Cruden Bay, on the Aberdeenshire coast, would develop into a popular holiday resort, but this sanguine forecast was never fully realised. 1949 May and June, “Notes and News: Closing of Boddam Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 203
   Maybe it was hormones, or the immersion of parenting a newborn, or a new appreciation for what my body could do, but I felt surprisingly sanguine about my wobbly physical state. Feb. 2, 2022, Charlotte Cowles, “Can ‘Body Neutrality’ Change the Way You Work Out?”, in The New York Times
6. (archaic) Full of blood; bloody.
7. (archaic) Bloodthirsty.

noun

1. Blood colour; red.
   sanguine:
2. Anything of a blood-red colour, as cloth.
3. (heraldry) A tincture, seldom used, of a blood-red colour (not to be confused with murrey).
4. Bloodstone.
5. Red crayon.

verb

1. To stain with blood; to impart the colour of blood to; to ensanguine.