sanguine

C2+ Topic:Describing People

US /ˈsæŋɡwɪn/ UK /ˈsæŋɡwɪn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
optimistic or cheerfully confident, especially in a difficult situation

Despite the setbacks, she remained sanguine about the project's prospects.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · optimistic or cheerfully... optimistic hopeful confident cheerful buoyant positive upbeat

Opposites

pessimistic gloomy despondent morose

Word family

Derived forms sanguinelysanguinenesssanguinity

Related forms sanguinaryconsanguinesangfroid

Etymology

From Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus ('of blood'), from sanguis (stem sanguin-) 'blood'; the optimistic sense comes from medieval humoral theory, in which a blood-dominant temperament was cheerful.

sanguineus Latin sanguis Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# sanguine

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsæŋɡwɪn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsæŋɡwɪn/

## Meanings
1. optimistic or cheerfully confident, especially in a difficult situation

## Examples
- Despite the setbacks, she remained sanguine about the project's prospects.

## Synonyms
- optimistic
- hopeful
- confident
- cheerful
- buoyant
- positive
- upbeat

## Antonyms
- pessimistic
- gloomy
- despondent
- morose

## Derived Forms
- sanguinely
- sanguineness
- sanguinity

## Related Forms
- sanguinary
- consanguine
- sangfroid

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sanguineus
- Root: sanguis

## Etymology
From Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus ('of blood'), from sanguis (stem sanguin-) 'blood'; the optimistic sense comes from medieval humoral theory, in which a blood-dominant temperament was cheerful.

## AI Etymology
Sanguine comes from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus ('of blood'), from sanguis (stem sanguin-) 'blood'; the optimistic sense comes from medieval humoral theory, in which a blood-dominant temperament was cheerful. The historical chain includes Latin sanguineus and Latin sanguis. Older glosses in the chain include "of blood" and "blood", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sanguine is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "optimistic or cheerfully confident, especially in a difficult situation". English derivatives include sanguinely, sanguineness, and sanguinity; related forms include sanguinary, consanguine, and sangfroid. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing People

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sanguine

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