🧑‍🦰 Red-haired person 🔵 Bluish color

bluey

1 9.6

A person with red hair used as a friendly nickname in Australia

noun

Australian

: pelirrojo

I noted the bluey-green of sheep's eyes, reflecting far off to the right.

The Greeks call it bozo Bluey.

Examples

- Bluey?

F/X2 (1991)
It's like watching a bluey, right?

Nil by Mouth (1997)
- Come on, you Bluey!

F/X2 (1991)
My entire Guild crew is going to be based on browns and bluey-black.

Blog text (23)
You have like a orangey, A bluey, A Whitey, and a pinky.
...reddies, greenies, blueys, greenies, Auntie fucking Jeanies.

Nil by Mouth (1997)
In the playground, all the kids called him bluey because of his bright red hair.
During the rugby match, the coach shouted, "Come on, bluey, you can do it!"
She couldn't help but laugh when her friend jokingly referred to her as bluey due to her vibrant curls.

Synonyms

redhead

vsbluey

80 1.3

A person with red hair

is a regional informal nickname rather than a neutral label

ginger

vsbluey

Informal

17 6.1

A person with natural red hair often described playfully

is a regional nickname used mainly in Australia and New Zealand

red-header

vsbluey

6.0

A person with red hair

is a regional informal nickname rather than this general descriptive term

redheader

vsbluey

7.9

A person with red hair

is a regional informal nickname used especially in Australia and New Zealand

Surface Forms

bluey singular

blueys plural

Morphology

bluey = blue (opaque) = blue + y

Although morphologically 'blue' + '-y', the sense is a culturally specific ironic nickname (esp. Australian/NZ) for a red-haired person and cannot be derived from the literal colour.

Etymology

The word bluey is a common Australian and New Zealand nickname for a person with red hair. A helpful way to remember it is that people there often use opposite or joking names, so using blue for a redhead is a friendly joke and bluey became the nickname.