gray

Meaning

Adj

1. (US) Of a colour between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
2. (US) Dreary, gloomy, cloudy.
3. (US) Of indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality or acceptability.
4. (US) Gray-haired.
5. (US) Old.
6. (US) Relating to older people.

Verb

1. (US, ergative) To turn gray.
2. (US, slang) To turn progressively older, alluding to graying of hair through aging (used in context of the population of a geographic region)
3. (US, transitive) To give a soft effect to (a photograph) by covering the negative while printing with a ground-glass plate.

Noun

1. (US) An achromatic colour between black and white.
2. (US) An animal or thing of grey colour, such as a horse, badger, or salmon.
3. (US) A gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus.
4. (US) Synonym of grey alien.
5. (US) A penny with a tail on both sides, used for cheating.

Noun

In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass.

Synonyms

grey

grey

dull

grizzly

colourless

colourless

turned grey

grayish

turned gray

ash-colored

hoary

colorless

inexpressive

colorless

expressionless

😑

brown

hoar

gray-haired

greyish

white

pale

Gy

blue

grey-headed

pallid

faceless

somber

vapid

grayness

gray-headed

white-haired

grey-haired

old

🧓

colourless

greyness

impersonal

inadequate

insipid

ashen

dappled gray

ambiguous

ancient

antigue

Ash Wednesday

ashy

cloudy

☁️

dark blue

drab

dun

elderly

Translations

gris

grigio

gris

grau

grijs

gris

grisonner

gri

cinza

γκρίζος

Grau

cinzento

grauw

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɹeɪ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gray

Inherited from Old English: grǣġ

Cognate with Dutch: grauw

Cognate with German: grau

Cognate with Old Norse: grár

Cognate with Latin: rāvus

Cognate with Church Slavic: зьрѭ

Cognate with Russian: зреть

Cognate with Lithuanian: žeriù

In summary

From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ, grǣw (“grey”), from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”).
Cognate with West Frisian grau (“grey”), Dutch grauw (“grey”), German Low German grau, graag (“grey”), German grau (“grey”), Swedish grå (“grey”), Icelandic grár (“grey”), Latin rāvus (“tawny, grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), archaic Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”).

Sentences

Next to a bright red couch , a gray wall will appear distinctly greenish .