whiteness

English

Etymology

From Middle English whitenesse, whitnesse, whytnesse, hwitnesse, from Old English hwītnes (“whiteness”), equivalent to white +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪtnəs/, /ˈʍaɪtnəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

whiteness (countable and uncountable, plural whitenesses)

1. The state or quality of being white (all senses).
   • 1666, Robert Boyle, Origin of Forms and Qualities according to the Corpuscular Philosophy

     [Snow] may […] exchange its whiteness for yellowness, without losing its right to be called snow; […]

   1. (sociology) The quality of being white (in the racial sense).
      • 2013, Shelley M. Park, Mothering Queerly, Queering Motherhood, page 42:

        As a white body, I have not had to face my whiteness; insofar as the world is oriented around whiteness, I rarely have to turn my attention back onto myself, as do the black and brown bodies that are “stopped” or “held up” for being out of place […]

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:whiteness.

Antonyms

• blackness

Derived terms

• whiteness studies

Translations

state of being white

• Arabic: بَيَاض m (bayāḍ)
• Armenian: ճերմակություն (hy) (čermakutʻyun), սպիտակություն (hy) (spitakutʻyun)
• Asturian: blancura f, blancor m or f
• Bengali: সফেদী (śophedi)
• Bulgarian: белота (bg) f (belota), бледност f (blednost)
• Catalan: blancor (ca) f, blancúria f, albor (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Classical Nahuatl: iztacāyōtl
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: valkoisuus (fi)
• French: blancheur (fr) f, blanchité (fr) f, blanchitude (fr) f
• Galician: brancor m, brancura f, albura f
• Georgian: სითეთრე (sitetre)
• German: Weiße (de) f, Weißheit f, Weißsein n (sociology)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λευκότης f (leukótēs)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hindi: सफ़ेदी f (safedī)
• Hungarian: fehérség (hu)
• Irish: báine f, gile (ga) f
• Italian: bianchezza f, biancore m
• Latin: albitūdō f
• Polish: białość (pl) f, biel (pl) f
• Portuguese: brancura (pt) f, alvura (pt) f
• Romanian: albiciune (ro) f, albeață (ro) f, albitate f
• Russian: белизна́ (ru) (belizná)
• Serbo-Croatian: bjelina (sh) f, belina (sh) f
• Spanish: blancura (es) f, albor (es) m, albura (es) f
• Telugu: తెల్లదనము (telladanamu)
• Thai: ความขาว (th) (kwaam-kǎao)
• Tocharian B: arkwiññe
• Turkish: beyazlık (tr), aklık (tr)