whiteness

whiteness

English

Etymology

From Middle English whitenesse, whitnesse, whytnesse, hwitnesse, from Old English hwītnes (“whiteness”), equivalent to white +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

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Noun

whiteness (countable and uncountable, plural whitenesses)

1. The state of being white (all senses).
2. (sociology, dysphemistic) The collective of White/Europid people and their historical heritage.
   • 2009, Terrance MacMullan, Habits of Whiteness: A Pragmatist Reconstruction (page 182)

     A pragmatist critique of whiteness seeks a middle ground between eliminativism and essentialism; […] Du Bois explained why the habits of whiteness are so toxic: they encourage violence, undermine the formation and and sustenance of community, put money before humanity, and leave white folk culturally undernourished and rootless.

Antonyms

• blackness

Derived terms

• whiteness studies

Translations

state of being white

Arabic: بَيَاض‎ m (bayāḍ) Armenian: ճերմակություն (hy) (čermakutʿyun), սպիտակություն (hy) (spitakutʿyun) Asturian: blancura f, blancor m or f Catalan: blancor f, blancúria f, albor f Classical Nahuatl: iztacāyōtl Finnish: valkoisuus (fi) French: blancheur (fr) f, blanchitude f, blanchité (fr) f Galician: brancor m, brancura f, albura f Georgian: სითეთრე (sitetre) German: Weiße (de) f, Weißheit f, Weißsein n (sociology)

Hindi: सफ़ेदी f (safedī) Italian: bianchezza f, biancore m Latin: albitūdō f Portuguese: brancura (pt) f, alvura (pt) f Romanian: albiciune (ro) f, albeață (ro) f, albitate f Russian: белизна́ (ru) (belizná) Spanish: blancura (es) f, albor (es) m, albura (es) f Telugu: తెల్లదనము (telladanamu) Thai: ความขาว (th) (kwaam-kǎao) Turkish: beyazlık (tr), aklık (tr)