green

English Online Dictionary. What means green‎? What does green mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) enPR: grēn, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːn/
• (General American, Canada) enPR: grēn, IPA^(key): /ɡɹin/
• Rhymes: -iːn

Etymology 1

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow.

See also North Frisian green, West Frisian grien, Dutch groen, Low German grön, green, greun, German grün, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, Swedish grön, Norwegian Bokmål grønn, Icelandic grænn.

The sense of obscene, pornographic, or sexual in the Philippines is from a calque of Spanish verde.

Adjective

green (comparative greener, superlative greenest)

2. Of a green hue; with a hue which is of grass or leaves.

   Synonyms: verdant, vert; see also Thesaurus:greenish

   Antonyms: nongreen, ungreen
4. (figurative, of people) Sickly, unwell.
6. Unripe, said of certain fruits that change color when they ripen.

   Antonym: ripe

8. (figurative) Inexperienced.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inexperienced
10. (politics, sometimes capitalized) Islamist.
12. (figurative) Full of life and vigour; fresh and vigorous; new; recent; young.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:new
14. (figurative, of people) Naive or unaware of obvious facts.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gullible

16. (figurative, of people) Overcome with envy.

    Synonym: envious

18. (figurative) Environmentally friendly.

    Synonyms: eco-friendly; see also Thesaurus:environmentally friendly
20. (politics, sometimes capitalized) Of a green party, environmentalism-oriented.
22. (cricket) Describing a pitch which, even if there is no visible grass, still contains a significant amount of moisture.
24. (dated) Of bacon or similar smallgoods: unprocessed, raw, unsmoked; not smoked or spiced.

    Synonyms: raw, unprocessed, unsmoked

    Antonyms: processed, smoked, spiced

26. (dated) Not fully roasted; half raw.
27. (film, television, historical) Of film: freshly processed by the laboratory and not yet fully physically hardened.
29. Of freshly cut wood or lumber that has not been dried: containing moisture and therefore relatively more flexible or springy.
31. (wine) High or too high in acidity.

    Synonym: tart

    Antonyms: cloy, sweet

33. (Philippines, informal) Having a sexual connotation; indecent; lewd; risqué; obscene; profane.
35. (particle physics) Having a color charge of green.

    Antonym: antigreen

37. Being or relating to the green currencies of the European Union.

39. (academia) Subject to or involving a model of open access in which a published article is only available to read for free after an embargo period.

    Coordinate term: gold
40. (metallurgy) Of or pertaining to a part formed from compacted metal powder which has not yet undergone sintering to improve its strength.
41. Having a status (as correct, ready, or safe) denoted or coded by the color green.

Derived terms

English terms starting with “green”

Descendants

• Bislama: grin
• → Marshallese: kūriin
• Tok Pisin: grin

Translations

References

Noun

green (countable and uncountable, plural greens)

2. The color of grass and leaves; a primary additive color midway between yellow and blue which is evoked by light between roughly 495–570 nm.

   Synonyms: emerald, lime; see also Thesaurus:green
4. (politics, sometimes capitalized) A member of a green party; an environmentalist.

   Synonyms: environmentalist, (Australian) greenie, tree hugger, treehugger

   Hyponyms: blue green, red green
5. (golf) A putting green, the part of a golf course near the hole.
6. (bowls) The surface upon which bowls is played.

   Synonym: bowling green

7. (snooker) One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 3 points.
8. (British) A public patch of land in the middle of a settlement.
9. A grassy plain; a piece of ground covered with verdant herbage.
10. (chiefly in the plural) Fresh leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths.
11. Any substance or pigment of a green color.
12. A green light used as a signal.
13. (uncountable, slang) Marijuana.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana
14. (US, slang, uncountable) Money.
15. (particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
16. (theater, informal) Ellipsis of green room.

Derived terms

Nouns

Proper nouns

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English grenen, from Old English grēnian (“to become green, flourish”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōnijan, from Proto-Germanic *grōnijōną, *grōnijaną (“to become green”), from the adjective (see above).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian gräinje, German Low German grönen, German grünen, Swedish gröna, Icelandic gróna.

Verb

green (third-person singular simple present greens, present participle greening, simple past and past participle greened)

1. (transitive) To make (something) green, to turn (something) green.
2. To become or grow green in color.
3. (transitive) To add greenspaces to (a town, etc.).
4. (intransitive) To become environmentally aware.
5. (transitive) To make (something) environmentally friendly.

Synonyms

• (make (something) green): engreen

Derived terms

• greenable
• greening

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• Egner, Geren, genre, neger, regen

Czech

Etymology

Derived from English green.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡriːn]

Noun

green m inan

1. (slang, golf) green (a putting green; the part of a golf course near the hole)

Usage notes

Although the official term for the green is jamkoviště, it is rarely used in practice. Instead, unofficial Czech versions of the English word green, variously spelled green, grýn, and grín, are used in practice.

Declension

References

Further reading

• “green”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957

Danish

Etymology

From English green.

Noun

green c (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greens, definite plural greenene)

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Further reading

• “green” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from North Germanic, from Old Norse grǫn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣreːn/
• Hyphenation: green
• Rhymes: -eːn

Noun

green m (plural grenen)

1. (obsolete) Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris

   Synonym: grove den

Derived terms

• grenen
• grenenhout

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English green.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡriːn/
• Hyphenation: green
• Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

green m (plural greens)

1. (golf) green, putting green

Derived terms

• greenkeeper

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁin/

Noun

green m (plural greens)

1. (golf) green

German Low German

Alternative forms

• gren
• (in some other dialects) gröön (grön)
• (in some other dialects) greun, gräun

Etymology

From Middle Low German grōne, from Old Saxon grōni.

Adjective

green

1. (Low Prussian) green

Middle English

Alternative forms

• gre, gree

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French greer; equivalent to gre +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡreːən/

Verb

green (Late Middle English)

1. To come to an understanding or agreement.
2. (rare) To make a compact of reconciliation.

Conjugation

Descendants

• English: gree (obsolete)
• Scots: gree

References

• “grẹ̄en, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-15.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz.

Pronunciation

• (Sylt) IPA^(key): [ɡ̊reːn]

Adjective

green

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Sylt) green

Inflection

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greener, definite plural greenene)

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greenar, definite plural greenane)

1. (golf) a green or putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English green.

Noun

green n (plural greenuri)

1. putting green

Declension

References

• green in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English green.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾin/ [ˈɡɾĩn]
• Rhymes: -in
• Syllabification: green

Noun

green m (plural greens or greenes)

1. (golf) green

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “green”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English green. Doublet of grön.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡriːn/
• Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

green c

1. (golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area around a hole on a golf course)

Declension

See also

• putt
• putta

References

• green in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• green in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• gener, genre, neger

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡriːn/
• Homophone: gryne

Adjective

green

1. green

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 88