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Added 8 October 2026

pale

/peɪl/ adjective

In Latin: pallidus Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about pale at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Light in color.
I have pale yellow wallpaper.
Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
His face turned pale after hearing about his mother's death.
Feeble, faint.
He is but a pale shadow of his former self.

verb

To turn pale; to lose colour.
To become insignificant.
To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.

noun

Paleness; pallor.

noun

A wooden stake; a picket.
A fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
Limits, bounds (especially before of).

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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