bläulich

Bläulich is a German adjective meaning bluish, describing something that has a blueish color or tint rather than a saturated blue. It denotes a subtle or cool blue cast and is often used when a precise, vivid blue is not intended.

The term is common in descriptive writing across science, nature, art, and everyday language. It can modify nouns directly, for example in phrases like eine bläuliche Färbung, bläulicher Schimmer oder bläuliche Reflexe. In scientific and medical contexts it may describe appearances such as eine bläulich verfärbte Haut, which can indicate a physiological condition. In meteorology or optics, bläulich can describe light or atmospherics with a bluish tone, as in bläuliche Dämmerung or bläulich-gelbes Licht.

Etymologically, bläulich is formed from blau (blue) with the adjective suffix -lich, signaling a characteristic tendency toward blue. The form emphasizes that the color is not pure blue but leans toward blue in hue, tint, or shading. It is used neutrally and descriptively, suitable for naturalistic descriptions as well as artistic commentary, and it contrasts with stronger terms such as blau for saturated blue or with mixed-color expressions like blaugrün for blue-green.