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indigo

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indigo¹

  • /ˈɪn.dɪˌɡəʊ/ UK
  • /ˈɪndɪˌɡoʊ/ US
  • /ˈɪn.dɪˌɡo/ Scotland
  • /ˈɪn.dɪˌɡoː/ Wales

Where it comes from

16th century (as indico, modern spelling from the 17th century), Spanish índigo, Portuguese endego (modern índigo), or Dutch indigo (via Portuguese), all from Latin indicum (“indigo”), from Ancient Greek ἰνδικόν (indikón, “Indian dye”), from Ἰνδία (Indía). Doublet of Indic. Compare Middle English inde.

noun indigos · indigoes

  1. countable, uncountable A purplish-blue color.
  2. countable, uncountable A greenish dark blue color; the color of indigo dye. The night was considerably clearer than anybody on board her desired when the schooner Ventura headed for the land. It rose in places, black and sharp against the velvety indigo, over her dipping bow, though most of the low littoral was wrapped in obscurity.
  3. countable, uncountable A blue-colored dye obtained from certain plants (indigo plant or woad), or a similar synthetic dye.
  4. countable, uncountable An indigo plant, such as from species in genera Indigofera, Amorpha (false indigo), Baptisia (wild indigo), and Psorothamnus and Dalea (indigo bush). A Southern planter has been sowing indigo and cotton together. Perhaps he contemplates raising blue cotton; and should he wa­ter the plants with nitric acid, he would probably raise gun cotton—if any.

adjective more indigo · most indigo

  1. having a deep purplish-blue colour

Indigo²

proper noun

  1. A local government area in north-east Victoria, Australia, named after Indigo Valley; in full, the Shire of Indigo.
  2. A female given name. Details of Thunberg’s charge came as Just Stop Oil said its cofounders, Indigo Rumbelow and Roger Hallam, were arrested on Wednesday morning following dawn raids at their homes.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: anil, indigotin, indigo plant, indigofera tinctoria, carmine, weed, herb, pot, grass, rainbow, steelhead, arc-en-ciel, buntings, carmin, navy, navy-blue

Translations

Every language

noun colour

Españolíndigo, añil, turquí
한국어남빛 nambit, 쪽빛 jjokbit, 남색 namsaek
日本語インジゴ injigo, 藍色 aiiro
中文靛青 diànqīng, 靛藍 /靛蓝 diànlán
हिन्दीनील nīl
Portuguêsanil, índigo
Françaisindigo
DeutschIndigo
Italianoindaco
Ελληνικάινδικό indikó
Românăindigo
Русскийинди́го indígo
Tiếng Việtchàm
العربيةنِيلِيّ nīliyy
עבריתאינדיגו índigo

noun dye

Españolíndigo, añil
日本語インジゴ injigo, 藍色 aiiro
中文靛青 diànqīng, 靛藍 /靛蓝 diànlán
हिन्दीनील nīl
Portuguêsanil, índigo
Françaisindigo
DeutschIndigo
Italianoindaco
Românăindigo
Русскийинди́го indígo
Tiếng Việtbột chàm, thuốc nhuộm chàm

noun plant

Românăindigo

adj colour

Españolíndigo, añil
한국어남색 namsaek, 남빛 nambit, 쪽빛 jjokbit
日本語インジゴ indigo, 藍色 aiiro
中文靛藍 /靛蓝 diànlán, 靛青 diànqīng
हिन्दीनील nīl
Portuguêsanil, índigo
Françaisindigo
Deutschindigofarben
Italianoindaco
Românăindigo
Русскийцве́та инди́го cvéta indígo, инди́говый indígovyj
العربيةنِيلِيّ nīliyy

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Cite this
MLA

"indigo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/indigo. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

indigo. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/indigo

Chicago

"indigo." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/indigo.

BibTeX
@misc{indigo_2026,
  title = {indigo},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/indigo},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}