pale

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Light in colour, not strong or bright.

   The bedroom walls were painted a pale yellow.

2. 2
   adj

   Having less colour in the face than usual, often because of illness or fear.

   His face turned pale when he heard the bad news.

3. 3
   verb

   To become pale; to lose colour from the face.

   She paled at the sight of the blood.

4. 4
   verb

   To seem small or unimportant compared with something else.

   My problems pale in comparison to hers.

Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.

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