etiolated
/ˈiː.tɪ.ə(ʊ).leɪ.tɪd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.62 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of a plant or part of a plant: pale and weak because of sunlight deprivation or excessive exposure to sunlight.
adj
Of a plant: intentionally grown in the dark.
adj
Of an animal or person: having an ashen or pale appearance; also, haggard or thin; physically weak.
verb
simple past and past participle of etiolate
Example Sentences
- "[T]he external leaves which enjoy the light are perfectly green, while those within, naturally or artificially covered up and involved in darkness, are blanched or etiolated; they are thereby rendered white, soft, delicate, and tender, and lose the taste and flavour of the native plant in its green state, or retain these very slightly."
- "If there is too great an accumulation of oxygen, as when a plant is kept in a dark place, then it will grow towards the nearest ray of light, which if it does not reach, it will remain white, or etiolated, and sickly."
- "They had been so long accustomed to nestle in their old dwellings sheltered in the narrow closes, "Piled deep and massy, close and high," that they seemed to regard the exposure to open streets and broad thoroughfares pretty much as some etiolated hot-house exotic might be supposed to reflect on its being turned out to the open garden."
- "In a report of 1901, the "triple response" of etiolated pea seedlings (growth inhibition, thickening of the subapical region, horizontal nutation) was observed to occur in the presence of illuminating gas and ethylene was identified as the inducing agent."
- "Seedlings are elongated and have closed cotyledons in the dark (aetiolated) while the hypocotyls are short and the cotyledons are open in the light (de-aetiolated)."
- "Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have witnessed this curious new breed of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense. They stand like naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds."
Etymology
From etiolate + -ed (suffix forming adjectives); modelled after French étiolé, the past participle of étioler (“to become pale and weak, etiolate”), from Norman étieuler (“to become plant stalks left over after harvesting to be used as fodder or for thatching”), probably from éteule (“plant stalks left over after harvesting, stubble”) + -er (suffix forming verbs). Éteule is derived from Old French esteule (“straw”), from Latin stipula (“plant stalk; plant stalk left over after harvesting, stubble; straw”), from Proto-Italic *stipelā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steyp- (“to be stiff; erect”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈiː.tɪ.ə(ʊ).leɪ.tɪd/