pasty

C2+ Topic:Senses & Perception

US /ˈpeɪsti/ UK /ˈpeɪsti/ See IPA manual

adj noun

Meanings

1

adj
pale and unhealthy in appearance; also a filled folded pastry

He looked pasty and tired after the long night shift.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · pale and unhealthy in... pale wan pallid sallow ashen sickly

Opposites

ruddy tanned glowing florid

Word family

Derived forms pastiness

Related forms paste

Etymology

In the sense 'pale, doughy-looking', from paste + -y, evoking the dull whiteness of paste. Paste derives from Late Latin pasta 'dough', from Greek pasta 'barley porridge'. (The unrelated noun 'pasty', a folded pastry, comes via Old French paste.)

pasta la-lat pastá Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Senses & Perception Word Formation & Derivatives

# pasty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** ˈpeɪsti
**IPA (UK):** ˈpeɪsti

## Meanings
1. pale and unhealthy in appearance; also a filled folded pastry

## Examples
- He looked pasty and tired after the long night shift.

## Synonyms
- pale
- wan
- pallid
- sallow
- ashen
- sickly

## Antonyms
- ruddy
- tanned
- glowing
- florid

## Derived Forms
- pastiness

## Related Forms
- paste

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pasta
- Root: pastá

## Etymology
In the sense 'pale, doughy-looking', from paste + -y, evoking the dull whiteness of paste. Paste derives from Late Latin pasta 'dough', from Greek pasta 'barley porridge'. (The unrelated noun 'pasty', a folded pastry, comes via Old French paste.)

## AI Etymology
Pasty is in the sense 'pale, doughy-looking', from paste + -y, evoking the dull whiteness of paste. Paste derives from Late Latin pasta 'dough', from Greek pasta 'barley porridge'. (The unrelated noun 'pasty', a folded pastry, comes via Old French paste.). Important recorded forms include pasta (Latin) and pastá (Ancient Greek). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers pale and unhealthy in appearance; also a filled folded pastry. The wider family includes derived forms such as pastiness and related words such as paste.

## Topics
- Senses & Perception
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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