white
/ˈwaɪt/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.51 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
adj
Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.
adj
Of or relating to Caucasians (people with white complexion and European ancestry).
adj
By U.S. Census Bureau definition, of or relating to people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
adj
Designated for use by Caucasians.
adj
Relatively light or pale in colour.
adj
Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.
Example Sentences
- "Write in black ink on white paper."
- "white as the whitest lily on a stream."
- "While some of the more exotic varieties are becoming more popular with nationwide growers, such as the pale pinkish white pineberry, local farms will frequently plant a few different varieties to best suit their region."
- "[…]more white corporations cognizant of the mounting purchasing power of the Negro consumer, have Negro representatives in the field[…]."
- "Ms. Ringwald finds a few things about these films regrettable. One thing she found "significantly disturbing," she wrote, "was how white the films are.""
- "If you're from Africa, why are you white?"
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Cognates * West Frisian wyt * Dutch wit * German weiß * German weiss * Norwegian Bokmål hvit * Norwegian Nynorsk kvit * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”) * Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”) * Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”) * Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)