SANG-gwin
Definition
(Adjective) Sanguine means cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident, especially in a difficult or uncertain situation.
Example
Despite the layoffs sweeping the industry, she remained sanguine about her chances of landing a new role within the month.
Word Origin
Sanguine comes from the Latin sanguineus, meaning bloody or of blood, rooted in sanguis, blood. In medieval physiology, one of the four bodily humors was blood, and people believed to have an abundance of it were thought cheerful, warm, and optimistic in temperament. Over centuries the word shed its medical meaning and settled into its current sense of hopeful confidence.
Fun Fact
The old theory of the four humors, blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile, gave English several personality words still in use today, including melancholic (black bile) and phlegmatic (phlegm). Sanguine is the survivor of that system that carries the most positive connotation, since a blood dominant temperament was associated with ruddy cheeks, vigor, and an upbeat outlook. In heraldry, sanguine also refers to a deep blood red color, a nod to its literal root that has nothing to do with optimism. So a knight's sanguine coat of arms and a sanguine outlook on life share a bloodline, quite literally, even though they describe very different things.
