green
pronunciation
How to pronounce green in British English:
UK [ɡriːn]
How to pronounce green in American English:
US [ ɡriːn]
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- Noun:
- the property of being green; resembling the color of growing grass
- a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area
- an area of closely cropped grass surrounding the hole on a golf course
- any of various leafy plants or their leaves and stems eaten as vegetables
- street names for ketamine
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- Verb:
- turn or become green
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- Adjective:
- similar to the color of fresh grass
- concerned with or supporting or in conformity with the political principles of the Green Party
- not fully developed or mature; not ripe
- looking pale and unhealthy
- naive and easily deceived or tricked
Word Origin
- green
- green: [OE] Green is pre-eminently the colour of growing plants, and so appropriately it was formed from the same prehistoric Germanic base, *grō-, as produced the verb grow. Its West and North Germanic derivative *gronjaz gave German grün, Dutch groen, Swedish grön, and Danish grøn as well as English green.=> grass, grow
- green (adj.)
- Old English grene, Northumbrian groene "green, of the color of living plants," in reference to plants, "growing, living, vigorous," also figurative, of a plant, "freshly cut," of wood, "unseasoned" earlier groeni, from Proto-Germanic *gronja- (cognates: Old Saxon grani, Old Frisian grene, Old Norse grænn, Danish grøn, Dutch groen, Old High German gruoni, German grün), from PIE root *ghre- "grow" (see grass), through sense of "color of growing plants." From c. 1200 as "covered with grass or foliage." From early 14c. of fruit or vegetables, "unripe, immature;" and of persons, "of tender age, youthful, immature, inexperienced;" hence "gullible, immature with regard to judgment" (c. 1600). From mid-13c. in reference to the skin or complexion of one sick. Green cheese originally was that which is new or fresh (late 14c.), later with reference to coloring; for the story told to children that the moon is made of it, see cheese (n.1). Green light in figurative sense of "permission" is from 1937 (Green and red as signals on railways first attested 1883, as nighttime substitutes for semaphore flags). Green thumb for "natural for gardening" is by 1938. Green beret originally "British commando" is from 1949. Greenroom "room for actors when not on stage" is from 1701; presumably a once-well-known one was painted green. The color of environmentalism since 1971.
- green (v.)
- Old English grenian "to become green, flourish" (see green (adj.)). Compare Dutch groenen, German grünen, Old Norse grona. Meaning "to make green" is 1560s. Related: Greened; greening.
- green (n.)
- late Old English, "green color or pigment, spectral color between blue and yellow;" also "a field, grassy place; green garments; green foliage," from green (adj.). Specific sense "piece of grassland in a village belonging to the community" is by late 15c. In golf, "the putting portion of the links" by 1849. Symbolic of inconstancy since late 14c., perhaps because in nature it changes or fades. Also symbolic of envy and jealousy since Middle English. Shakespeare's green-eyed monster of "Othello" sees all through eyes tinged with jealousy. "Greensleeves," ballad of an inconstant lady-love, is from 1570s. The color of the cloth in royal counting houses from late 14c., later the color of the cloth on gambling tables.
Synonym
Example
- 1. Is atomic energy clean and green ?
- 2. Green dam has the potential to tighten this .
- 3. When you tell mr. green that I called ?
- 4. Poke them randomly into your green plants for added color .
- 5. One exception is the green golf course immediately east of soccer city .