white

Meanings

Adjective

• Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
• Of or relating to Caucasians, people of European descent with light-coloured skin.
• Designated for use by Caucasians.
• Relatively light or pale in colour.
• Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
• Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.
• Containing cream, milk, or creamer.
• The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.
• Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
• Honourable, fair; decent.
• Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
• Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
• Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
• Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
• Made from immature leaves and shoots.
• Not containing characters; see white space.
• Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black.
• Characterised by the presence of snow.

Noun

• The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
• A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.
• Any butterfly of the family Pieridae.
• White wine.
• Any object or substance that is of the color white.
• The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
• The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
• A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.

Verb

• To make white; to whiten; to bleach.

Origin

• From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz (whence also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós. Compare Lithuanian šviẽsti, šviesa, Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ, свѣтьлъ, Persian سفید, Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀, Sanskrit श्वेत.