yellow

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

English

Alternative forms

• yeallow (obsolete), yeller (dialect)

Etymology

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 *ǵʰelh₃wos, from *ǵʰelh₃- (“gleam, yellow”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian jel, jeel (“yellow”), West Frisian giel (“yellow”), Dutch geel (“yellow”), German Low German geel (“yellow”), German gelb (“yellow”), Swedish gul (“yellow”), Icelandic gulur (“yellow”). Compare also Welsh gell (“bay, tawny”), Latin helvus (“dull yellow”), Irish geal (“white, bright”), Italian giallo (“yellow”) 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”).

The verb is from Middle English yelwen, ȝalowen, ȝolewen, from Old English ġeolwian, from the adjective.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛl.əʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛl.oʊ/
  • (toe–tow merger) Homophone: yello
• (Southern US folk speech) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛlə/
  • (dated, Southern US folk speech) IPA^(key): /ˈjælə/, /ˈjɑlə/, /ˈjɪlə/, /ˈjʌlə/, /ˈjɛl.ɚ/, /ˈjæl.ɚ/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈjelːow/, (toe–tow merger) /oː-/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛlo(w)/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): [ˈjɛlo(w)], [ˈjɤlʊ], [-ə(w)]
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛl.əʊ/
  • (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛl.ʌo̞/
• Rhymes: -ɛləʊ

Adjective

yellow (comparative yellower, superlative yellowest)

1. Of a yellow hue.

   Antonyms: nonyellow, unyellow

   • 1962 (quoting c. 1398 text), Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, editors, Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242:

     dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] Golden or reddish-yellow […] (a. 1398) *Trev. Barth. 59b/a: ȝelouȝ colour [of urine] […] tokeneþ febleness of hete […] dorrey & citrine & liȝt red tokeneþ mene.

2. (informal) Lacking courage.

   Synonym: cowardly
3. (publishing, journalism) Characterized by sensationalism, lurid content, and doubtful accuracy.
4. (chiefly derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, of the skin) Of a hue attributed to Far East Asians, especially the Chinese.
5. (chiefly derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) Far East Asian (relating to Asian people).
6. (dated, Australia, offensive) Of mixed Aboriginal and Caucasian ancestry.
7. (dated, US) Synonym of high yellow.
8. (UK politics) Related to the Liberal Democrats.
9. (politics) Related to the Free Democratic Party; a political party in Germany.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

yellow (plural yellows)

1. The color of sunflower petals and lemons; the color obtained by mixing green and red light, or by subtracting blue from white light; the color evoked by light of wavelength around 580 nm; one of the three primary colors in subtractive color systems.
2. (US) The mid light in a set of three traffic lights, the lighting of which indicates that drivers should stop short of the intersection if it is safe to do so.
3. (snooker) One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 2 points.
4. (pocket billiards) One of two groups of object balls, or a ball from that group, as used in the principally British version of pool that makes use of unnumbered balls (the yellow(s) and red(s)); contrast stripes and solids in the originally American version with numbered balls).
5. (sports) A yellow card.
6. Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the yellow colored species. Compare sulphur.

Synonyms

• (light wavelengths): xantho- (xanth-)
• (intermediate light in a set of three traffic lights): amber (British)

Hyponyms

• (color): bronze yellow, cadmium yellow, fast yellow AB, quinoline yellow, lemon yellow, optic yellow, school bus yellow, sulfur yellow, sulphur yellow, taxi yellow, yellow-green, yellow 2G

Coordinate terms

• (light in a set of three traffic lights): red, green

Derived terms

• beyellowed
• see yellow

Translations

Verb

yellow (third-person singular simple present yellows, present participle yellowing, simple past and past participle yellowed)

1. (intransitive) To become yellow or more yellow.
2. (transitive) To make (something) yellow or more yellow.

Translations

See also

• All pages starting with "yellow"

References

• “yellow”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Yowell