pasty

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpeɪsti/ UK /ˈpeɪsti/ See IPA manual

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

Simplified etymology

Pasty shares its origin with paste, going back through Latin to Greek pastai ‘barley porridge’, from pastos ‘to sprinkle or salt’. The adjective pasty, meaning ‘doughy or resembling pastry’, is recorded from 1607.

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

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# pasty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**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
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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