blues

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

blues (disambiguation)

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: blo͞oz, IPA^(key): /bluːz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːz

Etymology 1

Noun

blues

1. plural of blue

Etymology 2

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Blues (musical form)

Wikipedia

blues (countable and uncountable, plural blues)

1. (usually in the plural, informal) A feeling of sadness or depression.

   Synonym: blueness

   I've got the blues today.

   The blues have hit her hard, and she won't get out of bed.

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     If we had been allowed to sit idle we should all have fallen in the blues […]

   1. (singular or plural, informal) One's particular life experience, particularly including the hardships one has faced.

      Your blues is just like mine.

      Your blues are just like mine.

   2. (singular or plural, informal) The negative emotional state produced by a particular action, occupation, experience or idea.

      I've got the lonely man's blues.

      If you work here long enough, you'll have the butcher's blues just like me.

2. (music) A musical form, African-American in origin, generally featuring an eight-bar or twelve-bar blues structure and using the blues scale.

   Many great blues musicians came from the Mississippi Delta region.

   A large portion of modern popular music is influenced by the blues.

   1. (music, always singular) A musical composition following blues forms.

      My next number is a blues in G.

4. A uniform made principally of a blue fabric, and especially a full dress uniform thus colored.

   Coordinate terms: camos, fatigues, greens, khakis

   They marched in their dress blues.

   • 2007, Jason Isbell, Dress Blues:

     You never planned on the bombs in the sand
     Or sleeping in your dress blues.

5. (drug slang) Any of various blue pills sold on the street, mimicking the appearance of prescription pain killer tablets but often laced with fentanyl that leads to overdose deaths (see opioid epidemic).

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• (musical form): boogie, jazz, rock and roll, shuffle, turnaround

Etymology 3

Verb

blues

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of blue

Anagrams

• Buels, bulse, lubes

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)

Noun

blues m (uncountable)

1. blues

References

Further reading

• “blues” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bluːs/,
• Rhymes: -ʊəs

Noun

blues c (singular definite bluesen, not used in plural form)

1. (music) blues; a musical form
2. (music) blues; a musical composition

Further reading

• “blues” in Den Danske Ordbog

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblyːs/,
• IPA^(key): /ˈbluːs/,

Noun

blues

1. (music) blues

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “blues”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bluz/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uz
• Homophones: blouse, blousent, blouses

Noun

blues m (plural blues)

1. blues (music)
2. blues (depression)

Derived terms

• coup de blues

Further reading

• “blues”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• bleus

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: blues

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: blúz
• Rhymes: -uːz

Noun

blues (plural bluesok)

1. (music) blues

Declension

Derived terms

• blueszene
• blueszenekar

Further reading

• blues in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

blues

Wikipedia ^it

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbluz/
• Rhymes: -uz
• Hyphenation: blùes

Noun

blues m (invariable)

1. (music) blues

References

Further reading

• blues in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• bluse

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

blues

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blus/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -us
• Syllabification: blues
• Homophone: bluz

Noun

blues m inan

1. (uncountable) blues (style of music)
2. (countable) blues (musical composition)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• blues in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• blues in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

Pronunciation

Noun

blues m pl (plural only)

1. (music) blues (a style guitar music of African American origin)
2. (music) blues (a blues composition)

Derived terms

• bluseiro / blueseiro

Related terms

• bluesman

Further reading

• “blues” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English blues.

Noun

blues n (plural bluesuri)

1. (music) blues

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblus/
• Rhymes: -us

Noun

blues m pl (plural only) or blues m (uncountable)

1. (music) blues

Further reading

• “blues”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English blues.

Noun

blues c

1. blues; a musical form
2. blues; a musical composition

Declension

Further reading

• blues in Svensk ordbok.