white English · revision 2041

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 899 (Alfred, Boethius)|origins=gem-pro *hwītaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /(h)waɪt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|whit]], [[inh|ang|hwīt|t=bright, radiant; clear, fair]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD) from [[gem-pro|*hwītaz]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Its cognates are [[ofs|hwīt]], [[osx|hwīt]], [[nl|wit]], [[goh|hwīz]] (modern [[de|weiß]]), [[non|hvítr]] and [[got|𐍈𐌴𐌹𐍄𐍃|tr=hweits]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) The root, which Watkins gives as [[ine-pro|*kweit-|t=white; to shine]], also gave [[sa|श्वेत|tr=śvetá|t=white]] and [[lt|šviesti|t=to shine]], and probably [[cu|свѣтъ|tr=světŭ|t=light]].^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966)^(MW Collegiate) [[wheat]] comes from the same Germanic base.^(COED 2004)^(NODE 1998)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of the colour of milk or snow.^(Etymonline) Old English ''hwīt'' also meant “bright, radiant” and “clear, fair”,^(Etymonline) and is recorded before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Boethius.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old English ''white'' already meant “morally pure”, and in Middle English it could also mean “gracious, favourable”.^(Etymonline) It was also the colour of lustrous metal, especially silver, whence ''white the hand'' “to bribe” (early 14th century).^(Etymonline) By the late 13th century it described hair grey with age.^(Etymonline) As a surname, first given for fair hair or skin, ''White'' is among the oldest in English, established before the Norman Conquest.^(Etymonline) The noun meant the white of an egg about 1000,^(Barnhart 1988) white clothing about 1300, white wine by the late 14th century and the white of the eye about 1400,^(Etymonline) and the player of the white pieces in chess by the late 15th century.^(Etymonline) The adjective was applied to people of light-skinned, chiefly European, descent from about 1600, and the noun from the 1670s.^(Etymonline) The colour's link with royalist causes dates from the late 18th century.^(Etymonline) A ''whited sepulchre'', a hypocrite, comes from Jesus's words about the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew,^(Cresswell 2021) and ''Whit Sunday'' refers to the white robes worn by early Christians at baptism.^(Cresswell 2021) The ''white elephant'' recalls a story that the King of Siam gave sacred white elephants, which could be neither used nor given away, to courtiers he disliked, ruining them with the cost of their keep.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) Barnhart dates the sense “an unwanted possession” from 1928, in Galsworthy,^(Barnhart 1988) while Word Origins places the phrase in the early 18th century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 899 – Old English ''hwīt'' (Alfred's Boethius).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1000 – verb ''hwītian'', to make or become white.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – noun, the white of an egg.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 13th century – of hair, white with age.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – white clothing.^(Etymonline)

+ * early 14th century – ''white the hand'', to bribe.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – white wine.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1400 – the white of the eye.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 15th century – the white pieces in chess.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1591 – ''whitewash'', verb.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1600 – of light-skinned peoples.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1600 – ''white flag''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1741 – ''white lie''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1811 – ''White House'' (American).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1921 – ''white-collar'' (American).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1928 – ''white elephant'', an unwanted possession (Galsworthy).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of the colour of fresh snow or milk, the lightest of all colours, reflecting nearly all light.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # [[pale|alt=Pale]], from fear, illness or shock.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Silvery or pale grey: ''white hair''.^(AHD)

+ # Light-coloured, in names of animals and plants: ''white clover''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Belonging to a group of people with light skin, chiefly of European descent.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The colour white.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The white part of something, such as the white of an egg or of the eye.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''whites'': white clothes, especially as a group in washing.^(Etymonline)

+ # A white person.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The player with the white pieces in chess.^(Etymonline)^(HTOED)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(archaic)'' To make white; [[whitewash]].^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''white out'': to cover (a mistake) with white correction fluid.^(SOED 2002)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[whiteness]]

+ * [[whitish]]

+ * [[nonwhite]]

+ * [[off-white]]

+ * [[egg white]]

+ * [[flake white]]

+ * [[titanium white]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[whitebeam]]

+ * [[whiten]]

+ * [[wheat]]

+ * [[whiting]]

+ * [[Whitsunday]]

+ * [[edelweiss]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American slang sense “honourable, fair” (''that's white of you''), recorded from 1877, was based on racial prejudice^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and is now offensive.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}