синий

• си́ній (sínij) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *siňь.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsʲinʲɪj]

• Audio:

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си́ний • (sínij) (comparative (по)сине́е or (по)сине́й, superlative сине́йший, diminutive си́ненький, augmentative синю́щий)

1. deep blue

   синий:  

   • 1890, Антон Чехов [Anton Chekhov], Воры; English translation from Constance Garnett, transl., The Horse-Stealers, 1921:

     За столо́м под образа́ми сиде́л невысо́кий худоща́вый мужи́к лет сорока́, с небольшо́й ру́сой боро́дкой и в си́ней руба́хе.

     Za stolóm pod obrazámi sidél nevysókij xudoščávyj mužík let soroká, s nebolʹšój rúsoj boródkoj i v sínej rubáxe.

     A short, lean peasant of about forty, with a small, fair beard, wearing a dark blue shirt, was sitting at the table under the holy images.

2. indigo

   синий:  

3. (colloquial, figuratively) dead (sense transferred from the bluish color of a dead person's face)
4. (colloquial, figuratively) drunken, drunk (also acts as noun)
5. (slang) being a thief belonging to the Russian mafia (from the blue color of the tattoos that cover his body)

• Си́ний (Sínij) and голубо́й (golubój) (different shades of blue) are seen as distinct basic colors in Russian, as different from each other as red and pink would be for an English speaker; Russian does not have one single color term corresponding to blue.

• (Adjectives) светло́-си́ний (svetló-sínij), тёмно-си́ний (tjómno-sínij, “navy blue”), синева́тый (sinevátyj, “dark-bluish”), синюшный (sinjušnyj). синеголо́вый (sinegolóvyj)
• (Nouns) синева́ (sinevá, “blue”), си́ненький (sínenʹkij, “eggplant”), cинь (cinʹ, “blueprint bluing”), про́синь (prósinʹ, “blue tint”), си́нька (sínʹka), синя́к (sinják, “bruise”)
• (Verbs) сине́ть (sinétʹ, “turn/appear dark blue”), засинивать (zasinivatʹ)

• василько́вый (vasilʹkóvyj)