sallow

Meanings

Adjective

• Yellowish.
• Having skin (especially on the face) of a sickly pale colour.
• Having a similar pale, yellowish colour.
• Foul; murky; sickly.

Verb

• To become sallow.
• To cause (someone or something) to become sallow.

Noun

• A European willow, Salix caprea, that has broad leaves, large catkins and tough wood.
• A willow twig or branch.

Related

Similar words

• goat willow

Origin

• From Middle English salowe, from Old English salu, from Proto-Germanic *salwaz (compare Dutch zaluw, dialectal German sal), from Proto-Indo-European *solH- (compare Irish salach, Welsh halog, Latin salīva, Russian соло́вый).
• From Middle English salwe, from Old English sealh, from Proto-Germanic *salhaz, masculine variant of *salhō, *salhijǭ (compare Low German Sal, Saal; Swedish sälg), from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂lk-, *sh₂lik- (compare Welsh helyg, Latin salix), probably originally a borrowing from some other language.