yellow
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yellow¹
- /ˈjɛləʊ/ Southern England
- /ˈjɛlo/ Northumbria, Scotland
- /ˈjɛlə/ Northumbria, Scotland
- /ˈjɛlou/ Wales
- /ˈjɛloʊ/ US
- /ˈjɛlə/ US
- /ˈjɛl.ɚ/ US
- /ˈjæl.ə/ US
- /ˈjæl.ɚ/ US
- /ˈjɑlə/ US
- /ˈjɪlə/ US
- /ˈjʌlə/ US
- /ˈjɛlo(w)/ Canada
- [ˈjɛlo(w)]
- [ˈjɤlʊ]
- [-ə(w)]
- /ˈjɛləʊ/ Ireland
- /ˈjɛlʌo̞/
- /ˈjeləʉ/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈjæləʉ/
- /ˈjɛːloː/ India, North
- /ˈ(j)ɛlːoː/ India, South
Sounds like yello · Rhymes with -ɛləʊ
Where it comes from
From Middle English yelwe, yelou, from Old English ġeolwe, oblique form of Old English ġeolu, from Proto-West Germanic *gelu, from Proto-Germanic *gelwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós, from *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”).
Cognate with Scots yella (“yellow”), North Frisian gööl, güül (“yellow”), Saterland Frisian jeel (“yellow”), West Frisian giel (“yellow”), Cimbrian gel, ghéel (“yellow”), Dutch geel (“yellow”), Dutch Low Saxon gael, gel (“yellow”), German gelb, gehl (“yellow”), German Low German gel, geel, gęl, gäl (“yellow”), Luxembourgish giel (“yellow”), Vilamovian gaoł (“yellow”), Yiddish געל (gel), געלב (gelb, “yellow”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gul (“yellow”), Faroese and Icelandic gulur (“yellow”). Compare also Welsh gell (“bay, tawny”), Latin helvus (“dull yellow”), Irish geal (“white, bright”), Lithuanian žalias (“green”), Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “light green”), Persian زرد (zard, “yellow”), Sanskrit हरि (hari, “greenish-yellow”), Russian жёлтый (žóltyj, “yellow”), Russian зелёный (zeljónyj, “green”). Not related to Italian giallo—see galbinus.
The verb is from Middle English yelwen, ȝalowen, ȝolewen, from Old English ġeolwian, from the adjective.
noun yellows · yeallow · yeller · yaller
- The color of sunflower petals and lemons; the color obtained by mixing green and red light, or by subtracting blue from white light; the color evoked by light of wavelength around 580 nm; one of the three primary colors in subtractive color systems. It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw—not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.
-
The middle light in a set of three traffic lights, the lighting of which indicates that drivers should stop short of the intersection if it is safe to do so.
Similar: amber
- One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 2 points.
- One of two groups of object balls, or a ball from that group, as used in the principally British version of pool that makes use of unnumbered balls (the yellow(s) and red(s)); contrast stripes and solids in the originally American version with numbered balls).
- A yellow card. Andrew Surman fired in what proved to be a 37th-minute winner before Forest's Paul Konchesky saw red late on. That second yellow for the loan signing came in stoppage time and did not affect the outcome of a game which Norwich dominated.
- A yellow dye or pigment.
- A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of yellow pigment.
- Something, or a part of a thing, which is yellow.
- Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the yellow colored species. Compare sulphur. Several other beautiful butterflies rewarded my search in this place [...] The most abundant butterflies were the whites and yellows (Pieridae), several of which I had already found at Lombock and at Coupang, while others were new to me.
Similar: xantho-, blond, cream, dandelion, gold, khaki, lemon, yellow
adjective yellower · yellowest · yeallow · yeller · yaller
- Of a yellow hue. He had a yellow laptop in his bag.
-
Lacking courage.
What you should be is not yellow at all. If you're supposed to sock somebody in the jaw, and you sort of feel like doing it, you should do it.
Similar: cowardly
- Characterized by sensationalism, lurid content, and doubtful accuracy. The denizens of the gossipy world of the pink press, purple prose and yellow tabloids are shivering over disputed photographs of Princess Caroline of Monaco.
- Of a hue attributed to Far East Asians, especially the Chinese. They were all tall and all handsome, though they varied in their degree of darkness of skin, some being as dark as Mahomed, and some as yellow as a Chinese.
- Far East Asian (relating to Asian people). Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man.
- Of mixed Aboriginal and Caucasian ancestry. "Eh, Oscar—you hear about your yeller nephew?".
-
Synonym of high yellow.
Charley threw her over for a yellow gal named Nancy: he never forgave Vashti for the vanishing from his life of a menace that had come to mean more to him than Vashti herself.
Similar: high yellow
- Related to the Liberal Democrats. yellow constituencies
- Related to the Free Democratic Party, a political party in Germany. the black–yellow coalition
verb yellows · yellowing · yellowed · yeallow · yeller
- To become yellow or yellower. Then suddenly, with the least warning, the sky yellows and the Chergui blows in from the Sahara, stinging the eyes and choking with its sandy, sticky breath.
- To make (something) yellow or yellower.
- To promote (a captain) to flag rank without command of a squadron, ending his career; to make him a yellow admiral. Then they might yellow him if they wanted to; he would be satisfied with Admiral’s rank.
yellow²
- /ˈjɛləʊ/ Southern England
- /ˈjɛlo/ Northumbria, Scotland
- /ˈjɛlə/ Northumbria, Scotland
- /ˈjɛlou/ Wales
- /ˈjɛloʊ/ US
- /ˈjɛlə/ US
- /ˈjɛl.ɚ/ US
- /ˈjæl.ə/ US
- /ˈjæl.ɚ/ US
- /ˈjɑlə/ US
- /ˈjɪlə/ US
- /ˈjʌlə/ US
- /ˈjɛlo(w)/ Canada
- [ˈjɛlo(w)]
- [ˈjɤlʊ]
- [-ə(w)]
- /ˈjɛləʊ/ Ireland
- /ˈjɛlʌo̞/
- /ˈjeləʉ/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈjæləʉ/
- /ˈjɛːloː/ India, North
- /ˈ(j)ɛlːoː/ India, South
Sounds like yello · Rhymes with -ɛləʊ
Where it comes from
From the colors used on traffic lights; yellow being the one for warning vehicles to stop soon.
interjection yeallow · yeller · yaller
- Used to indicate that the speaker needs a temporary break from current sexual activity.
Yellow³
proper noun
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: yellowness, jaundiced, colored, chromatic, chicken, yellow-bellied, old, sensational, sensationalistic, fearful, chickenhearted, cowardly, scandalmongering, white-livered, unhealthy, lily-livered
Translations
Every language
noun color
| Español | amarillo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 황색 hwangsaek, 노랑 norang |
| 日本語 | 黄色 kiiro |
| 中文 | 黃色 /黄色 huángsè |
| हिन्दी | पीला pīlā, ज़र्द zard |
| Kiswahili | manjano |
| Português | amarelo |
| Français | jaune |
| Deutsch | Gelb |
| Italiano | giallo |
| Ελληνικά | κίτρινο kítrino, ώχρα óchra |
| Română | galben, galbenă |
| Русский | жёлтый žóltyj |
| Tiếng Việt | hoàng, vàng |
| العربية | أَصْفَر ʔaṣfar |
| עברית | צהוב tsahóv, צהובה tshubá |
adj lacking courage
| Español | cobarde |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 겁많은 geommaneun, 겁많다 geommanta |
| 日本語 | 臆病な okubyō na |
| Português | covarde, amarelão, amarelona |
| Français | froussard, lâche |
| Deutsch | feige |
| Italiano | codardo |
| Ελληνικά | δειλός deilós, φοβιτσιάρης fovitsiáris, φοβητσιάρης fovitsiáris |
| Română | laș |
| Русский | трусли́вый truslívyj |
| العربية | جَبَان jabān |
| עברית | פַּחְדָן pahdan |
adj having yellow as its color
| Español | amarillo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 노란 noran, 노랗다 norata |
| 日本語 | 黄色い kiiroi |
| 中文 | 黃 /黄 huáng |
| हिन्दी | पीला pīlā, ज़र्द zard |
| Kiswahili | -a manjano |
| Português | amarelo |
| Français | jaune |
| Deutsch | gelb |
| Italiano | giallo |
| Ελληνικά | κίτρινος kítrinos |
| Română | galben |
| Русский | жёлтый žóltyj |
| Tiếng Việt | vàng, màu vàng |
| العربية | أَصْفَر ʔaṣfar, صَفْرَاء ṣafrāʔ, صُفْر ṣufr |
| עברית | צָהֹב tsahóv |
verb to become yellow or more yellow
| Português | amarelar |
|---|---|
| Français | jaunir |
| Deutsch | gilben, vergilben |
| Italiano | ingiallirsi |
| Română | se îngălbeni |
| Русский | желте́ть želtétʹ, пожелте́ть poželtétʹ |
| العربية | اِصْفَرَّ iṣfarra |
| עברית | הצהיב hets'hiv |
Talk about this word "yellow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/yellow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. yellow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/yellow "yellow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/yellow.Cite this
@misc{yellow_2026,
title = {yellow},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yellow},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
