azure

Meanings

Noun

• The clear blue colour of the sky; also, a pigment or dye of this colour.
• A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.
• The unclouded sky; the blue vault above.
• Any of various widely distributed lycaenid butterflies of the genus Celastrina (genus).
• Any of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus Ogyris (genus).
• Lapis lazuli.

Adjective

• sky blue; resembling the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky
• cloudless
• In blazon, of the colour blue.

Verb

• To colour blue.

Origin

• From Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد, dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l'. The Arabic is from Persian لاجورد, from the region of Lajward in Turkestan.
• Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.