gray
See also: Gray
English
Various shades of gray.
Alternative forms
- grey (used in the UK)
Etymology 1
From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”).
See also Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár); also 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
- enPR: grā, IPA(key): /ɡɹeɪ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophones: grey, greige
Adjective
gray (comparative grayer or more gray, superlative grayest or most gray)
- Having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember.
- Dreary, gloomy.
- 1980, Daniel C. Gerould, Stanisław I. Witkiewicz, The Beelzebub Sonata: Plays, Essays, Documents
- the era of gray, boring banality and stagnation
- 1980, Daniel C. Gerould, Stanisław I. Witkiewicz, The Beelzebub Sonata: Plays, Essays, Documents
- Having an indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality.
- Gray-haired.
- Old.
- 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, OCLC 1000449192, page 206:
- Two hours, whose mighty circle did embrace
More time than might make grey the infant world,
Rolled thus, a weary and tumultuous space: […]
- 2004, Betty Berzon, Permanent Partners: Building Gay & Lesbian Relationships That Last (page 20)
- In a subculture that idealizes youth, being gay and gray does not exactly make one a hot ticket. Older gays and lesbians often relegate themselves to separate and unequal meeting places.
-
- Relating to older people.
- the gray dollar, i.e. the purchasing power of the elderly
- February 8, 1800, Fisher Ames, Eulogy on Washington
- Gray experience listened to his counsels with respect, and, at a time when youth is almost privileged to be rash, Virginia committed the safety of her frontier, and ultimately the safety of America, not merely to his valor,—for that would be scarcely praise,—but to his prudence.
Usage notes
- In the early 20th century, an attempt was made to introduce an artificial distinction between gray and grey, with the former being used for a "mixture of white and blue", but the latter being used for a "mixture made by white and black"[1]; this has not been generally adopted.
Derived terms
Terms derived from gray
- battleship gray
- gray area
- graybeard
- gray ghost
- gray-haired
- grayhound
- gray jay
- gray matter
- grayness
- gray power
- graysexual
- graysexuality
- gunmetal gray
Translations
having a color somewhere between white and black, as the ash of an ember
|
dreary, gloomy
|
having an indistinct quality
|
Verb
gray (third-person singular simple present grays, present participle graying, simple past and past participle grayed)
- To become gray.
- My hair is beginning to gray.
- To cause to become gray.
- (demography, slang) To turn progressively older, alluding to graying of hair through aging (used in context of the population of a geographic region)
- the graying of America
- 2018 September 18, Amanda Kolson Hurley, “Fake Public Squares Are Coming to the Suburbs”, in The Atlantic:
- It’s not what advocates of retrofitting the suburbs may have had in mind, but it’s a logical outcome of the graying of America, and of suburbia in particular.
- (transitive, photography) To give a soft effect to (a photograph) by covering the negative while printing with a ground-glass plate.
Translations
to become gray
|
to cause to become gray
|
to turn progressively older
|
Noun
gray (plural grays)
- An achromatic colour intermediate between black and white.
- grey:
- An animal or thing of grey colour, such as a horse, badger, or salmon.
- (chiefly US, ufology) an extraterrestrial humanoid with grayish skin, bulbous black eyes, and an enlarged head.
- (US, two-up) A penny with a tail on both sides, used for cheating.[2]
Translations
colour
|
extraterrestrial being
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
See also
| white | gray, grey | black |
| red; crimson | orange; brown | yellow; cream |
| lime, lime green | green | mint |
| cyan; teal | azure, sky blue | blue |
| violet; indigo | magenta; purple | pink |
References
- Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 3.61, page 96.
- Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966, chapter XI section 3, page 243
Etymology 2
Named after English physicist Louis Harold Gray (1905–1965).
Noun
gray (plural grays)
- In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass. Symbol: Gy
- Coordinate term: rad
Derived terms
- kilogray
Translations
SI unit of absorbed radiation
|
Further reading
gray (unit) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- Gary, Yarg, gyra, yarg
Czech
Noun
gray m
- gray (unit of absorbed radiation)
Further reading
- gray in Akademický slovník cizích slov, 1995, at prirucka.ujc.cas.cz
Finnish
Etymology
From English gray.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡrei̯/, [ˈɡre̞i̯]
Noun
gray
- gray (SI unit)
Declension
| Inflection of gray (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | gray | grayt | |
| genitive | grayn | grayiden grayitten | |
| partitive | graytä | grayitä | |
| illative | grayhin grayhyn | grayihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | gray | grayt | |
| accusative | nom. | gray | grayt |
| gen. | grayn | ||
| genitive | grayn | grayiden grayitten | |
| partitive | graytä | grayitä | |
| inessive | grayssä | grayissä | |
| elative | graystä | grayistä | |
| illative | grayhin grayhyn | grayihin | |
| adessive | grayllä | grayillä | |
| ablative | grayltä | grayiltä | |
| allative | graylle | grayille | |
| essive | graynä | grayinä | |
| translative | grayksi | grayiksi | |
| instructive | — | grayin | |
| abessive | grayttä | grayittä | |
| comitative | — | grayineen | |
| Possessive forms of gray (type rosé) | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | grayni | graymme |
| 2nd person | graysi | graynne |
| 3rd person | graynsä | |
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡʁɛj/
Audio (Paris) (file)
Noun
gray m (plural grays)
- gray (SI unit)
Portuguese
Noun
gray m (plural grays)
- (physics) gray (SI unit of absorbed radiation)
Alternative forms
- grey
Noun
gray m (plural grays)
- (ufology) gray (one of a race of evil, short extraterrestrial beings)
Swedish
Noun
gray c
- gray (SI unit)