olive

pronunciation

How to pronounce olive in British English: UK [ˈɒlɪv] word uk audio image

How to pronounce olive in American English: US [ˈɑːlɪv] word us audio image

Noun:

small ovoid fruit of the European olive tree; important food and source of oil
evergreen tree cultivated in the Mediterranean region since antiquity and now elsewhere; has edible shiny black fruits
hard yellow often variegated wood of an olive tree; used in cabinetwork
one-seeded fruit of the European olive tree usually pickled and used as a relish
a yellow-green color of low brightness and saturation
Adjective:

of a yellow-green color similar to that of an unripe olive

Word Origin

olive: olive: [13] The word olive probably originated in a pre-Indo-European language of the Mediterranean area. Greek took it over as elaíā, and passed it on to English via Latin olīva and Old French olive. The olive’s chief economic role is as a source of oil (indeed the very word oil comes from a Greek derivative of elaíā), and before the word olive arrived in English, it was called eleberge, literally ‘oil-berry’.=> oil

olive (n.): c. 1200, "olive tree," from Old French olive "olive, olive tree" (13c.) or directly from Latin oliva "olive, olive tree," from Greek elaia "olive tree, olive," probably from the same Aegean language (perhaps Cretan) as Armenian ewi "oil." Applied to the fruit or berry of the tree in English from late 14c. As a color from 17c. Olive branch as a token of peace is from early 13c.

2. Since then , it 's been pure white and I think it 's rather striking against my olive skin tone .

3. In the 1990s , he hired italian pizza chefs to teach his cooks the proper art of olive placement .