white
pronunciation
How to pronounce white in British English:
UK [waɪt]
How to pronounce white in American English:
US [waɪt]
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- Noun:
- the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)
- (board games) the lighter pieces
- (usually in the plural) trousers
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- Verb:
- turn white
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- Adjective:
- being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light
- of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration
- free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied
- marked by the presence of snow
- restricted to whites only
- glowing white with heat
- benevolent; without malicious intent
- of a surface; not written or printed on
- (of coffee) having cream or milk added
- dressed (or especially habited) in white
- (of hair) having lost its color
- ash-colored or anemic looking from illness or emotion
- of summer nights in northern latitudes where the sun barely sets
Word Origin
- white
- white: [OE] White goes back ultimately to Indo- European *kwitnos or *kwidnos, which was formed from the same base as produced Sanskrit sveta- ‘white’ and Russian svet ‘light’. It passed into prehistoric Germanic as *khwītaz, which has since evolved into German weiss, Swedish vit, Danish hvid, and English white (Dutch wit comes from a variant of the same Germanic source). Wheat is etymologically the ‘white’ grain.=> wheat, whitsun
- white (adj.)
- Old English hwit "bright, radiant; clear, fair," also as a noun (see separate entry), from Proto-Germanic *hwitaz (cognates: Old Saxon and Old Frisian hwit, Old Norse hvitr, Dutch wit, Old High German hwiz, German weiß, Gothic hveits), from PIE *kweid-o-, suffixed form of root *kweit- "white; to shine" (cognates: Sanskrit svetah "white;" Old Church Slavonic sviteti "to shine," svetu "light;" Lithuanian šviesti "to shine," svaityti "to brighten"). As a surname, originally with reference to fair hair or complexion, it is one of the oldest in English, being well-established before the Conquest. Meaning "morally pure" was in Old English. Association with royalist causes is late 18c. Slang sense of "honorable, fair" is 1877, American English; in Middle English it meant "gracious, friendly, favorable." The racial sense "of those races (chiefly European or of European extraction) characterized by light complexion" is recorded from c. 1600; meaning "characteristic of or pertaining to white people" is from 1852, American English. White supremacy attested from 1884, American English; white flight is from 1966, American English. White way "brightly illuminated street in a big city" is from 1908. White flag of truce or surrender is from c. 1600. White lie is attested from 1741. White Christmas is attested from 1847. White House as the name of the U.S. presidential residence is recorded from 1811. White water "river rapids" is recorded from 1580s. White Russian "language of Byelorussia" is recorded from 1850; the mixed drink is from c. 1978. Astronomical white dwarf is from 1924. White witch, one who used the power for good, is from 1620s.
- white (n.)
- Old English hwit "whiteness, white food, white of an egg," from white (adj.). Also in late Old English "a highly luminous color devoid of chroma." Meaning "white part of the eyeball" is from c. 1400. Meaning "white man, person of a race distinguished by light complexion" is from 1670s; white man in this sense is from 1690s. White man's burden is from Kipling's 1899 poem. Take up the White Man's burden-- The savage wars of peace-- Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest The end for others sought, Watch sloth and heathen Folly Bring all your hopes to nought.
Example
- 1. Clouds are white and pale blue .
- 2. Miss white left a great legacy .
- 3. Some of them wore white robes .
- 4. Black criminals serve longer sentences than white ones .
- 5. The school handed out black armbands and white flowers .