blanch C2+ Topic:Food & Drink US /blæntʃ/ UK /blɑːntʃ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 verb to turn pale, or to whiten food by briefly scalding it Blanch the almonds to loosen their skins before peeling. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 verb · to turn pale, or to whiten... whitenpalebleachfadescaldparboil ↔ Opposites darkenblackenreddenflush Word family Derived forms blancherblanching Related forms blankblanket Etymology AI details From Old French blanchir ('to make white'), from blanc ('white'), of Germanic origin (Frankish *blank 'shining, white'). blanchir Old French *blank frk View etymology graph -> Topics Food & Drink External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # blanch **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** verb **IPA (US):** /blæntʃ/ **IPA (UK):** /blɑːntʃ/ ## Meanings 1. to turn pale, or to whiten food by briefly scalding it ## Examples - Blanch the almonds to loosen their skins before peeling. ## Synonyms - whiten - pale - bleach - fade - scald - parboil ## Antonyms - darken - blacken - redden - flush ## Derived Forms - blancher - blanching ## Related Forms - blank - blanket ## Roots and Affixes - Root: blanchir - Root: *blank ## Etymology From Old French blanchir ('to make white'), from blanc ('white'), of Germanic origin (Frankish *blank 'shining, white'). ## AI Etymology Blanch comes from Old French blanchir ('to make white'), from blanc ('white'), of Germanic origin (Frankish *blank 'shining, white'). The historical trail runs through blanchir in Old French and *blank in frk. Used as a verb, blanch now means "turn pale, or to whiten food by briefly scalding it", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as blancher and blanching and related forms such as blank and blanket. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English. ## Topics - Food & Drink markdown