white

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

English

Alternative forms

• whight, whyte, whyght (obsolete)
• White, yt (race-related)

Etymology

From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”).

Cognate with West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit; also Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”), Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”), Persian سفید (sefid), Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”), Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: wīt, IPA^(key): /waɪt/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwīt, IPA^(key): /ʍaɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: wight, Wight, wite (accents with the wine-whine merger)

Adjective

white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)

1. Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.

   Antonyms: black, nonwhite, unwhite
2. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.
3. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Caucasians (people with white complexion and European ancestry):.
4. (sometimes capitalized) By U.S. Census Bureau definition, of or relating to people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
5. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.

6. Relatively light or pale in colour.

7. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
8. (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.

   Synonyms: fair, pale

   Antonym: tanned

9. (of an animal) Affected by leucism.
10. (of coffee or tea) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.

    Antonym: black

11. (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.

12. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.

13. Honourable, fair; decent.
14. Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
15. (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
16. (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
17. (politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
18. (of tea) Made from immature leaves and shoots.
19. (typography) Not containing characters; see white space.
20. (typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).

    Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"

21. Characterised by the presence of snow.

22. (of a set of armor) Alwhite, pertaining to white armor.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Bislama: waet
• Tok Pisin: wait
• → Japanese: ホワイト (howaito)
• white fella
  • ⇒ Nyunga: wadjela
• white gin
  • ⇒ Gamilaraay: waatyin
  • ⇒ Ngiyambaa: wadjiin
  • ⇒ Wiradjuri: waajin

Translations

Noun

white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)

1. The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
2. A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:white person

3. Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.
4. (countable and uncountable) White wine.
5. (countable and uncountable) White coffee
6. (countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.
   1. The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
   2. (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.
   3. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.
   4. (slang, US, UK) Cocaine.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cocaine
   5. The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.
   6. A white pigment.

   7. A white bean.
7. (archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
8. The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
9. A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.

   Synonym: prime
10. (board games, chess) The person playing with the white set of pieces.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

white (third-person singular simple present whites, present participle whiting, simple past and past participle whited)

1. (transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.

Derived terms

• white out

See also

• blanco
• leucite
• leukoma
• leukosis
• Sauvignon blanc
• Svetambara
• terra alba

References

Further reading

• white on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Race on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:white on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• withe

Middle English

Adjective

white

1. Alternative form of whit

Adjective

white

1. inflection of whit:
   1. weak singular
   2. strong/weak plural

Quotations

• Come forth my white spouse