blanch
/blɑːnt͡ʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.54 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To whiten, for example the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain the juices.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "His cheek blanched with fear."
- "The rose blanches in the sun."
- "Nurse Cramer's face blanched and she turned to Dunbar desperately for aid."
- ""Where is the target?" "Bearing zero-four-five, Comrade. Bearing is constant," the michman replied, "closing rapidly." Tupolev blanched. "Left full rudder, all ahead flank!""
- "to blanch linen"
- "Age has blanched his hair."
Etymology
From Middle English blaunchen, from Old French blanchir, from Old French blanc (“white”), from Early Medieval Latin blancus, from Frankish *blank, from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (“bright, shining, blinding, white”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyǵ- (“to shine”). Cognates Cognate with blench (“to deceive, to trick”) through Proto-Indo-European, whence other etymology of blanch.