snow-white

See also: Snow White and snow white

English

Etymology

From Middle English snow whit, snowe-white, snouwite, snawhwit, from Old English snāwhwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *snaiwhwīt, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwahwītaz; equivalent to snow +‎ white. Cognate with Dutch sneeuwwit (“snow-white”), German schneeweiß (“snow-white”), Swedish snövit (“snow-white”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

snow-white (not comparable)

1. As white as snow; exceptionally white.

   Synonym: lily-white

   • 1880, Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, page 449:

     One day he wandered to the banks of the Rhine. On its discolored waters swam a snow-white swan, playfully pulling at the rope which bound a small skiff to the shore.

   • 1982 August 14, Mary Ann Peacott, Liz Nania, “BT's In Boston”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 5, page 12:

     It was also a delight to see a racially mixed band from Boston. Too bad that the crowd was snow white. We've all still got a helluva long way to go.

Antonyms

• coal black
• coal-black
• coalblack

 

Derived terms

• Snow White
• snow-whiteness

 

Translations

as white as snow

• Azerbaijani: ağappaq
• Belarusian: беласне́жны (bjelasnjéžny)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 純白／纯白 (zh) (chúnbái)

• Danish: snehvid
• Dutch: sneeuwwit (nl)
• Esperanto: neĝblanka
• Estonian: lumivalge
• Finnish: lumivalkoinen (fi), vitivalkoinen (fi)
• French: blanc immaculé m
• Georgian: ქათქათა (katkata), სპეტაკი (sṗeṭaḳi)
• German: schneeweiß (de), schlohweiß (de)
• Greek: χιονόλευκος (el) m (chionólefkos), κατάλευκος (el) (katálefkos), κάτασπρος (el) (kátaspros), ολόλευκος (el) (olólefkos), ολόασπρος (el) (olóaspros), πάλλευκος (el) (pállefkos)
• Hungarian: hófehér (hu)
• Icelandic: mjallhvítur (is)
• Ido: nivea (io)
• Italian: bianco-neve
• Japanese: 雪白 (ja) (せっぱく, seppaku), 純白 (ja) (じゅんぱく, junpaku)
• Korean: 백설 (baekseol)
• Latin: niveus (la)
• Luxembourgish: schnéiwäiss (lb)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: snøhvit

• Polish: śnieżnobiały (pl) m
• Portuguese: branco de neve
• Romanian: alb ca neaua, alb ca zăpada
• Russian: белосне́жный (ru) (belosnéžnyj)
• Spanish: blanconieve, nevado (es)
• Swedish: snövit (sv)
• Tajik: сап-сафед (sap-safed)
• Turkish: karbeyaz
• Ukrainian: білосні́жний (uk) (bilosnížnyj)

Noun

snow-white (plural snow-whites)

1. (ethnic slur, offensive, slang) A Caucasian person, especially a woman.

Alternative forms

• snow white

 

Anagrams

• white snow