sallow means yellowish.; Of a sickly pale colour.
sallow is pronounced /ˈsæloʊ/.
Why “sallow” is a great word
A sickly, yellowish or pale brown complexion, often suggesting poor health. From Middle English salowe, from Old English salu, from Proto-West Germanic *salu, from Proto-Germanic *salwaz ("dusky, dirty gray"), from Proto-Indo-European *selH-. Unlike "pallid," which suggests the blanched, bloodless pallor of shock, or "olive," which describes a healthy, sun-kissed tone, "sallow" captures the specific discoloration of the unwell. It is the complexion of the consumptive poet in a garret, the waxy cast of skin beneath a week of fever, or the muddy yellow that seeps into the face of someone who has not seen sunlight in months—the body's quiet announcement that something within has begun to fail.
Etymology
From Middle English salowe, from Old English salu, from Proto-West Germanic *salu, from Proto-Germanic *salwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *selH-.
See also Dutch zaluw, dialectal German sal; also Irish salach (“dirty”), Welsh halog, Latin salīva, Russian соло́вый (solóvyj, “cream-colored”), and - through Frankish - French sale.
adj
- Yellowish.; Of a sickly pale colour.e.g.“Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
Hath wash’d thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!”
- Yellowish.; Of a tan colour, associated with people from southern Europe or East Asia.e.g.“The girls are mostly Slavic-pretty, long-limbed with high cheekbones, sallow skin and green eyes. They are the closest thing to supermodels that Mulhuddart has ever seen.”
- Having skin (especially on the face) of a sickly pale colour.e.g.“Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed.”
- Having a similar pale, yellowish colour.e.g.“The terrible descriptions were so real and vivid, that the sallow pages seemed to turn red with gore […]”
- Foul; murky; sickly.
verb
- To become sallow.e.g.“The tan of his sunburnt face and hands contrasted sadly with the sallowing skin of the girl-wife, who, despite his care, was sinking under her task of son-bearing.”
- To cause (someone or something) to become sallow.
noun
- A European willow, Salix caprea, that has broad leaves, large catkins and tough wood.
- A willow twig or branch.e.g.“Who-so that buildeth his hous al of salwes,
And priketh his blinde hors over the falwes,
And suffreth his wyf to go seken halwes,
Is worthy to been hanged on the galwes!”
Words closest in meaning
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