grey
Commonwealth standard spelling of grayCommonwealth standard spelling of gray.
Recorded UK: Association Shtooka, Judith Franck, CC BY 3.0 US, Wikimedia Commons · Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
1 sensesCommonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)
- Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason (1536-1554)
- Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)
- any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey
Origin
From Middle English grey, from Old English grēġ (Anglian). The spelling grey reflects theFrom Middle English grey, from Old English grēġ (Anglian). The spelling grey reflects the Anglian vowel development, whereas the variant gray stems from the West Saxon form grǣġ (through Middle English gray). Further derived from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”) (compare Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”)).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: greysSynonyms
7 synonyms- United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939):Zane Grey
- Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason (1536-1554):Lady Jane Grey
- Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845):Charles GreySecond Earl Grey
- any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey:gray
- a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black:graygraynessgreyness
- clothing that is a grey color:gray
Word family
1 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.