Wiktionary

grey

See also: Grey

English

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Various shades of grey.

Alternative forms

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  • gray (often used in the US)

Etymology

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From Middle English grey, from Old English grǣġ, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”) (compare Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”)).

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: grā, IPA(key): /ɡɹeɪ/
  • Audio (Canada):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Adjective

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grey (comparative greyer or more grey, superlative greyest or most grey)

  1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
  2. (South Africa, slang) Synonym of coloured (pertaining to the mixed race of black and white).[1]

Derived terms

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Translations

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gray — see gray

Verb

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grey (third-person singular simple present greys, present participle greying, simple past and past participle greyed)

  1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
    • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck‎[1]:
      Now only a few hand-hewn cedar planks and roof beams remained, moss-grown and sagging—a few totem poles, greyed and split.

Noun

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grey (plural greys)

  1. British and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
    • 1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):
      Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, / That costs thy life, my gallant grey.
    • 1833, Sporting Magazine, volume 6, page 400:
      Pioneer seemed now to have the game in his own hands; but the Captain, by taking two desperate leaps, cut off a corner, by which he regained the ground he had lost by the fall, and was up with the grey the remainder of the chase.

Translations

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gray — see gray

See also

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Colors/Colours in English (layout · text)
             red          orange              yellow              green              blue (incl.      indigo;
             cyan, teal, turquoise) 		             purple / violet
         pink (including
         magenta) 		         brown      white              grey/gray      black

References

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  1. ^ 2001, Charlotte Spinks, A New Apartheid? Urban Spatiality, (Fear of) Crime, and Segregation; in Cape Town, South Africa, Destin Development Studies Institute, ISSN 1470-2320

Anagrams

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Icelandic

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Etymology

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From Old Norse grey, from Proto-Germanic *grawją, cognate with Faroese groyggj. Original meaning -meager dog (greyhound), whereas in English the semantic developed to simply a lean dog, this was transferred mostly from the dogs all together to mean a -poor little thing - a poor person. the semantic change to something poor has already taken place in the old language.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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grey n (genitive singular greys, nominative plural grey)

  1. (archaic) bitch (female dog)
  2. wretch, pitiful person
    Greyið mitt!
    You poor little thing!
    Greyið Jón
    Poor John
  3. indefinite accusative singular of grey
  4. indefinite nominative plural of grey
  5. indefinite accusative plural of grey

Declension

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declension of grey
n-s singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative grey greyið grey greyin
accusative grey greyið grey greyin
dative greyi greyinu greyjum greyjunum
genitive greys greysins greyja greyjanna

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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grey (plural and weak singular greye)

  1. grey, dull, drab (in color)
  2. glinting, glistening

Descendants

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  • English: gray, grey
  • Scots: gray
  • Yola: gry

References

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Noun

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grey

  1. grey (colour)
  2. Fur of the grey squirrel
  3. grey clothes
  4. grey textiles
  5. An elderly man
  6. A badger

Descendants

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References

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See also

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Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)
     whit      grey, hor      blak
             red; cremesyn, gernet              citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne              yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
             grasgrene              grene             
             plunket; ewage              asure, livid              blewe, blo, pers
             violet; inde              rose, murrey; purpel, purpur              claret

Portuguese

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Noun

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grey m (plural greys)

  1. Alternative form of gray (race of extraterrestrials)

Spanish

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Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia es

Etymology

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Inherited from Old Spanish grey, from Latin gregem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɡɾei/ [ˈɡɾei̯]
  • Rhymes: -ei
  • Syllabification: grey

Noun

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grey f (plural greyes)

  1. (obsolete, poetic) flock, herd
    Synonyms: rebaño, rehala
  2. (religion) flock (people served by a pastor, priest, etc., also all believers in a church or religion)
    Synonyms: rebaño, feligresía, congregación, iglesia
    • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:
      toda la grey díscola y ladina de aquellas verdes montañas
      the whole rebellious and cunning flock from those green mountains

Derived terms

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See also

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Further reading

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