Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

high yellow

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.65 in modern English

Syllables: high- yel-low
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A black person with light skin with yellow undertones.

adj

Of a black person, having a light skin tone.

Example Sentences

"Being a light-skinned girl, you get called names. You get called 'lite-brite', you get called 'high yellow', 'redbone'."
"Now, you gonna get your little narrow, high yellow ass back into the theater and enjoy Soul Plane 2."

Etymology

After the golden-yellow skin tone of some multiracial people. "High" is usually considered a reference to a social class system in which skin color (and associated ancestries) is a major factor, placing those of lighter skin (with more white ancestry) at the top and those of darker skin at the bottom.

Inflected Forms

high yellows (plural) more high yellow (comparative) most high yellow (superlative)

Frequently Paired Words

colorism redbone

Synonyms

high yaller

Questions

What does high yellow mean?: A black person with light skin with yellow undertones.
Where does high yellow come from?: After the golden-yellow skin tone of some multiracial people. "High" is usually considered a reference to a social class system in which skin color (and associated ancestries) is a major factor, placing those of lighter skin (with more white ancestry) at the top and those of darker skin at the bottom.

How to pronounce high yellow

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “high yellow”.
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