shade
/ʃeɪd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.16 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A postage stamp showing an obvious difference in colour/color to the original printing and needing a separate catalogue/catalog entry.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "The old oak tree gave shade in the heat of the day."
- "Temps rose to a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius in the shade."
- "Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet:[…]."
- "Close the shade, please: it's too bright in here."
- "Also, people with darker skin tend to have lower blood levels of vitamin D because the pigment (melanin) acts like a shade, reducing production of vitamin D (and also reducing damaging effects of sunlight on skin, including skin cancer)."
- "I've painted my room in five lovely shades of pink and chartreuse."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₃tús Proto-Germanic *skaduz Proto-West Germanic *skadu Old English sċeadu Middle English schade English shade Inherited from Middle English schade, from Old English sċeadu, from Proto-West Germanic *skadu, from Proto-Germanic *skaduz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₃tús, from *(s)ḱeh₃-. Doublet of shadow. Cognate with Ancient Greek σκότος (skótos) (whence English scoto-) and σκιά (skiá) (whence English scia-, and uncertainly via σκίουρος (skíouros) English squirrel).