Added 7 October 2026
gray
/ɡɹeɪ/ adjective
In Latin: rāvus, pullus, cinereus Wiktionary
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about gray at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Of a color between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
- Dreary, gloomy, cloudy.
-
Indistinct, disputed or ambiguous, especially in respect of moral acceptability, legality, etc.
a gray area; a morally gray politician
verb
-
To turn gray.
My hair is beginning to gray.
-
To turn progressively older, alluding to graying of hair through aging (used in context of the population of a geographic region)
the graying of America
- To give a soft effect to (a photograph) by covering the negative while printing with a ground-glass plate.
noun
noun
Origin
From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ (West Saxon). The spelling gray reflects the West Saxon vowel development, whereas the variant grey stems from the Anglian form grēġ (through Middle English grey). Further derived 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”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)