green

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡriːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English grene, inherited from Old English grēne, Northumbrian groene,^[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *grōnijaz,^[2][4] an -n- formation from the base of grow and grass.^[5][6][7] Its cognates include Old Frisian grēne, Old Saxon grōni, Dutch groen, German grün and Old Norse grœnn.^[3][5][6] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ghrē- (“to grow”),^[2][8] through the sense “colour of growing plants”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the colour of living plants: Old English grēni, about 700,^[3] or before 700 in the OED.^[9] Of plants it also meant “growing, vigorous” and of wood “unseasoned”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“Covered with grass or foliage” is from about 1200.^[2] Of the complexion of a sick person it is from the mid-13th century,^[2] and Word Origins notes the old phrases green and wan and green and pale.^[10] Of fruit, “unripe”, and of persons, “youthful, inexperienced”, it is from the early 14th century, hence “gullible” from about 1600.^[2] Green has symbolized inconstancy since the late 14th century and envy since Middle English, as in Shakespeare's “green-eyed monster”.^[2] A village green is by the late 15th century, and the golf green by 1849.^[2] The green room for actors is from the 1690s.^[2] Green light as “permission” is from 1937, and green thumb by 1938.^[2] Green as the colour of environmentalism is from 1971,^[2] and the Greens translates German die Grünen.^[8]

Timeline

• before 700 – Old English grēni.^[3][9]
• c. 1200 – covered with foliage.^[2]
• mid-13th century – sickly.^[2]
• early 14th century – unripe; inexperienced.^[2]
• late 15th century – a village green.^[2]
• 1690s – green room.^[2]
• 1849 – a golf green.^[2]
• 1937 – green light.^[2]
• 1971 – environmentalist.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of the colour of growing grass and leaves, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.
2. Covered with growing plants; verdant.
3. Not ripe; young; inexperienced or naive.
4. Pale and sickly; jealous or envious: green with envy.
5. Concerned with protecting the environment.

Noun

1. The colour green.
2. A grassy area, especially common land in a village.
3. The area of short grass around a hole in golf.
4. greens: green leafy vegetables.
5. (often Green) A member of an environmentalist party.

Verb

1. To make or become green.

Word family

• greenly
• greenness
• greenish
• greenishness
• greeny
• greenage
• greening

Related words

• wintergreen
• grow
• grass
• greenery
• greenhorn
• greenhouse
• verdant

Usage notes

A Scots and northern verb green, “to long for”, is probably a separate word, from Old Norse girna “to desire”, related to yearn.^[5][11][12]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)