bleach

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -iːtʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English bleche (also bleke), from Old English blǣċ, blǣc, variants of Old English blāc (“bright, shining, glittering, flashing; bleak, pale, pallid, wan, livid”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale, shining”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlē- (“to shimmer, gleam, shine”). More at bleak.

Adjective

bleach (comparative bleacher or more bleach, superlative bleachest or most bleach)

1. (archaic) Pale; bleak.

Etymology 2

From Middle English blechen, from Old English blǣċan (“to bleach, whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine”). Cognate with Dutch bleken (“to bleach”), German bleichen (“to bleach”), Danish blege, Swedish bleka (“to bleach”). Related to Old English blāc (“pale”) (English blake; cf. also bleak).

Verb

bleach (third-person singular simple present bleaches, present participle bleaching, simple past and past participle bleached)

1. (transitive) To treat with bleach, especially so as to whiten (fabric, paper, etc) or lighten (hair).
2. (intransitive, biology, of corals) to lose color due to stress-induced expulsion of symbiotic unicellular algae.

   Once coral bleaching begins, corals tend to continue to bleach even if the stressor is removed.

Synonyms

• blanch

Translations

to treat with bleach

• Arabic: بيض (báyyaɖa)
• Bulgarian: избелвам, обезцветявам
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漂白 (cmn) (piǎobái)

• Czech: bělit (cs)
• Danish: blege (da)
• Dutch: bleken (nl)
• Faroese: bleikja (fo)
• Finnish: valkaista (fi)
• French: blanchir (fr)
• German: bleichen (de)
• Greek: λευκαίνω (el) (lefkaíno)
• Hebrew: הלבין (he) (hilbín)
• Hungarian: kifehérít
• Italian: imbiancare (it), candeggiare (it), decolorare (it)

• Japanese: 漂白する (ja) (hyōhaku suru)
• Jèrriais: blianchi
• Korean: 바래다 (baraeda)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bleke (nb), bleike (nb)

  Nynorsk: bleike (nn), bleikje (nn)

• Polish: bielić, wybielić
• Portuguese: branquear (clothing), oxigenar (hair)
• Russian: белить (belít’)
• Slovak: bieliť (sk), vybieliť (sk), odfarbiť (sk)
• Spanish: blanquear (es), curar (es), decolorar (es)
• Swedish: bleka (sv)
• Turkish: rengini açmak

Noun

bleach (countable and uncountable; plural bleaches)

1. (uncountable) A chemical, such as sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, or a preparation of such a chemical, used for disinfecting or whitening.
2. (countable) A variety of bleach.

Translations

chemical

• Arabic: مادة تبييض (mādda tabyīḍ) f
• Bulgarian: белина (bg) (belina) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漂白劑 (cmn), 漂白剂 (cmn) (piǎobáijì)

• Czech: bělidlo (cs) n
• Danish: blegemiddel (da) n
• Dutch: bleekwater (nl) n, Javel (nl) m, bleek (nl) c
• Finnish: valkaisuaine (fi)
• French: eau de Javel (fr) f, javel (fr) f
• German: Bleiche (de) f
• Greek: λευκαντικό (el) (lefkantikó) n
• Hebrew: אקונומיקה (he) (ekonómika) f, מלבין (he) (malbín) m
• Hungarian: fehérítő (hu)
• Italian: varechina (it) f, candeggina (it) f, decolorante (it) m
• Japanese: 漂白剤 (ja) (hyōhaku-zai)

• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Maltese: bliċ (mt) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: blekemiddel (nb) n, bleikemiddel (nb) n

  Nynorsk: bleikemiddel (nn) n, bleikjemiddel (nn) n

• Polish: wybielacz (pl) m
• Portuguese: descorante (pt) m
• Russian: белильная известь (ru) (belíl’naja ízvest’) f, белильный раствор (ru) (belíl’nyj rastvór) m, (for clothes) отбеливатель (ru) (otbélivatel') m
• Serbo-Croatian: izbjeljivač (sh) m
• Slovak: bielidlo (sk) n
• Spanish: lejía (es) f, lavandina (es) f, blanqueador (es) m
• Swedish: blekmedel (sv) n
• Turkish: çamaşır suyu (tr)

Derived terms

• bleachfield

Etymology 3

From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċu, blǣċo (“paleness, pallor”), from Proto-Germanic *blaikį̄ (“paleness”).

Noun

bleach (plural bleaches)

1. An act of bleaching; exposure to the sun.

Etymology 4

From Middle English bleche, from Old English blǣċe (“irritation of the skin, leprosy; psoriasis”).

Noun

bleach (plural bleaches)

1. A disease of the skin.