[sang-gwin] 
| 1. | cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations. |
| 2. | reddish; ruddy: a sanguine complexion. |
| 3. | (in old physiology) having blood as the predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-faced, cheerful, etc. |
| 4. | bloody; sanguinary. |
| 5. | blood-red; red. |
| 6. | Heraldry. a reddish-purple tincture. |
| 7. | a red iron-oxide crayon used in making drawings. |
| san·guine (sāng'gwĭn) adj.
[Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood.] san'guine·ly adv., san'guine·ness, san·guin'i·ty n. 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. |
sanguine san·guine (sāng'gwĭn)
adj.
Of a healthy, reddish color; ruddy.
Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
Archaic Having the temperament and ruddy complexion that was formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
sanguine
chalk or crayon drawing done in a blood-red, reddish, or flesh colouring. The pigment employed is usually a chalk or clay containing some form of iron oxide. Sanguine was used extensively by 15th- and 16th-century artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (who employed it in his sketches for the Last Supper), Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto.
Learn more about sanguine with a free trial on Britannica.com.