Link Centre Dictionary

yellow

yel·low

UK/ˈjɛləʊ/ US/ˈjɛlo/ common informal uk us

adjective

1.

similar to the color of an egg yolk

Similar
3.

changed to a yellowish color by age

  • “yellowed parchment”
Synonyms
Similar
4.

typical of tabloids

  • “sensational journalistic reportage of the scandal”
  • “yellow journalism”
5.

cowardly or treacherous

  • “the little yellow stain of treason” M.W.Straight
  • “too yellow to stand and fight”
6.

affected by jaundice which causes yellowing of skin etc

Similar

noun

1.

the quality or state of the chromatic color resembling the hue of sunflowers or ripe lemons

Synonyms

verb

1.

turn yellow

  • “The pages of the book began to yellow”

Origin

From Middle English yelwe, yelou, from Old English ġeolwe, oblique form of Old English ġeolu, from Proto-West Germanic *gelu, from Proto-Germanic *gelwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós, from *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”). Cognate with Scots yella (“yellow”), North Frisian gööl, güül (“yellow”), Saterland Frisian jeel (“yellow”), West Frisian giel (“yellow”), Cimbrian gel, ghéel (“yellow”), Dutch geel (“yellow”), Dutch Low Saxon gael, gel (“yellow”), German gelb, gehl (“yellow”), German Low German gel, geel, gęl, gäl (“yellow”), Luxembourgish giel (“yellow”), Vilamovian gaoł (“yellow”), Yiddish געל (gel), געלב (gelb, “yellow”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gul (“yellow”), Faroese and Icelandic gulur (“yellow”). Compare also Welsh gell (“bay, tawny”), Latin helvus (“dull yellow”), Irish geal (“white, bright”), Lithuanian žalias (“green”), Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “light green”), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow”), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “greenish-yellow”), Russian жёлтый (žóltyj, “yellow”), Russian зелёный (zeljónyj, “green”). Not related to Italian giallo-see galbinus. The verb is from Middle English yelwen, ȝalowen, ȝolewen, from Old English ġeolwian,...

Phrases

  • absinthe yellow
  • aniline yellow
  • antimony yellow
  • Apennine yellow-bellied toad
  • arylide yellow
  • Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross
  • aurora yellow
  • Berger's clouded yellow

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.