yellow
/ˈjɛloʊ/ noun, adjective, verb, interjection, proper noun
Forms yellows yellower yellowest yellowing yellowed yeallow yeller yaller
- noun 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.
- noun (US) The middle 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.
- noun (snooker) One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 2 points.
- noun (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).
- noun (sports) A yellow card.
- noun A yellow dye or pigment.
- noun A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of yellow pigment.
- noun Something, or a part of a thing, which is yellow.
- adjective Of a yellow hue. “He had a yellow laptop in his bag.”
- adjective (informal) Lacking courage.
- adjective (publishing, journalism) Characterized by sensationalism, lurid content, and doubtful accuracy.
- adjective (chiefly derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, of the skin) Of a hue attributed to Far East Asians, especially the Chinese.
- adjective (chiefly derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) Far East Asian (relating to Asian people).
- adjective (dated, Australia, offensive) Of mixed Aboriginal and Caucasian ancestry.
- adjective (dated, US) Synonym of high yellow.
- adjective (UK politics) Related to the Liberal Democrats. “yellow constituencies”
- verb (intransitive) To become yellow or yellower.
- verb (transitive) To make (something) yellow or yellower.
- verb (transitive, historical, Royal Navy) To promote (a captain) to flag rank without command of a squadron, ending his career; to make him a yellow admiral.
- interjection (BDSM, procedure word) Used to indicate that the speaker needs a temporary break from current sexual activity.
Synonyms
amber xantho- blond cream dandelion gold khaki lemon cowardly high yellow yellowness yellowish xanthous chicken chickenhearted lily-livered white-livered yellow-bellied yellowed scandalmongering sensationalistic jaundiced icteric
Antonyms
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 *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, from the adjective.
From the colors used on traffic lights; yellow being the one for warning vehicles to stop soon.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Being of a bright saffronlike color; of the color of gold or brass; having the hue of that part of the rainbow, or of the solar spectrum, which is between the orange and the green.
- noun A bright golden color, reflecting more light than any other except white; the color of that part of the spectrum which is between the orange and green. "A long motley coat guarded with yellow." Shak.
- noun A yellow pigment. Cadmium yellow, Chrome yellow, Indigo yellow, King's yellow, etc. See under Cadmium, Chrome, etc. -- Naples yellow, a yellow amorphous pigment, used in oil, porcelain, and enamel painting, consisting of a basic lead metantimonate, obtained by fusing together tartar emetic lead nitrate, and common salt.
- verb To make yellow; to cause to have a yellow tinge or color; to dye yellow.
Etymology [OE. yelow, yelwe, ýelow, ýeoluw, from AS. geolu; akin to D. geel, OS. & OHG. gelo, G. gelb, Icel. gulr, Sw. gul, Dan. guul, L. helvus light bay, Gr. hari tawny, yellowish. Chlorine, Gall a bitter liquid, Gold, Yolk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “yellow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details