White
See also: white
English
editPronunciation
editAudio: (file)
Etymology 1
edit- As an English surname, from Middle English hwit (“white”), as a nickname for someone with white hair or pale complexion; in some cases from a personal name of the same meaning. See the modern adjective white.
- Also as an English surname, from Old English *wiht (“bend”), found only in placenames, a derivative of the verb wican (“to yield, bend”); compare Wight.
- As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, used as a translation of several Gaelic names containing the element bán and geal, including Mac Giolla bháin (McElwain, Kilbane), Ó Gealagáin (Galligan), Bán (Bane), and Ó Banáin (Bannon).
- Also as a Scottish and Irish surname, an Anglicization of Irish de Faoite, itself from Anglo-Norman le White, le Whyte, from the same source as the English surname.
Proper noun
editWhite (countable and uncountable, plural Whites)
- A common British and Irish surname transferred from the nickname.
- A locale in the United States:
- A minor city in Bartow County, Georgia; named for its first postmaster.
- A city in South Dakota; named for its first European settler.
- An unincorporated community in Washington; named for a Washington state judge.
- A ghost town in Missouri; named for a local mining official.
Alternative forms
editDerived terms
editStatistics
edit- According to the 2010 United States Census, White is the 24th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 660,491 individuals. White is most common among White (65.5%) and Black/African American (28.2%) individuals.
Etymology 2
editAdjective
editWhite (not comparable)
- (chiefly US, sometimes Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of white (“of or relating to white complexion or Europeans”)
Noun
editWhite (plural Whites)
- Alternative letter-case form of white (“European”).
- 1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 155:
- The Whites on the mission were a special kind of white person, special in the way that my grandmother had explained to me, for they were holy.
- (historical, politics) An anticommunist who fought against the Reds during the Russian Civil War; the term is mostly associated with monarchist forces.
- Hypernym: anticommunist
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms with audio links
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Scottish Gaelic
- English terms derived from Irish
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English surnames
- English surnames from nicknames
- en:Cities in Georgia, USA
- en:Cities in the United States
- en:Places in Georgia, USA
- en:Places in the United States
- en:Cities in South Dakota, USA
- en:Places in South Dakota, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in Washington, USA
- en:Unincorporated communities in the United States
- en:Places in Washington, USA
- en:Ghost towns in Missouri, USA
- en:Places in Missouri, USA
- English adjectives
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- American English
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- en:Politics
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- en:Russia