Etymologically
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green

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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
  • 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)