grey

See also: Grey

English

Various shades of gray.

Alternative forms

• gray (often used in the US)

Etymology

From Middle English grey, from Old English grǣġ, 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”)).

Pronunciation

• enPR: grā, IPA^(key): /ɡɹeɪ/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Adjective

grey (comparative greyer or more grey, superlative greyest or most grey)

1. UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     These grey and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks.

2. (South Africa, slang) Synonym of coloured (pertaining to the mixed race of black and white).

Derived terms

Terms derived from grey

• all cats are grey at night
• all cats are grey by night
• all cats are grey in the dark
• ash-grey
• ash grey
• battleship-grey
• battleship grey
• blue-grey
• brain grey
• cadet grey
• code grey
• cool grey
• dove grey
• eastern grey kangaroo
• French grey
• get grey hair from
• give grey hair to
• give someone grey hair
• great grey owl
• great grey shrike
• grey alder
• grey amber
• grey area
• greyback
• grey-backed fiscal
• greybeard
• grey-blue
• greyboard
• greybody
• grey-box testing
• grey cells
• grey-collar
• grey corkwood
• grey crested tit
• grey crow
• grey crowned crane
• grey eminence
• greyen
• greyer
• greyest
• greyfriar
• grey friar
• grey ghost
• grey gold
• grey goo
• grey-haired
• grey-hat
• grey hat
• greyhead
• grey-headed
• grey-headed bunting
• grey-headed chickadee
• grey-headed woodpecker
• grey hen
• grey heron
• grey-hooded bunting
• greyhound
• greyish
• greyishly
• grey jay
• grey junglefowl
• greylag
• grey-legged tinamou
• greyline
• greylist
• grey literature
• greyly
• grey magic
• grey magick
• grey market
• grey marketeer
• grey matter
• grey mullet
• grey-necked bunting
• grey-necked wood rail
• greyness
• grey night
• grey noise
• grey nomad
• grey nurse
• grey nurse shark
• grey out
• grey partridge
• grey platelet syndrome
• grey plover
• grey pound
• grey power
• grey rape
• grey red-backed vole
• grey reef shark
• grey rhea
• grey rocking
• grey rock method
• greyscale
• greyschist
• grey seal
• greystone
• grey-tailed tattler
• grey teal
• grey-throated rail
• grey tinamou
• grey tit
• grey wagtail
• greyware
• greywater
• greywether
• grey whale
• grey-winged trumpeter
• grey wolf
• grey zorro
• gunmetal-grey
• gunmetal grey
• lesser grey shrike
• military grey
• Patagonian grey fox
• pearl grey
• pinko-grey
• silver-grey
• slate grey
• South American grey fox
• the fox may grow grey but never good
• the grey mare is the better horse
• ungrey
• western grey kangaroo
• wolf-grey

 

Translations

gray — see gray

Verb

grey (third-person singular simple present greys, present participle greying, simple past and past participle greyed)

1. UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck‎^[1]:

     Now only a few hand-hewn cedar planks and roof beams remained, moss-grown and sagging—a few totem poles, greyed and split.

Noun

grey (plural greys)

1. UK and Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
   • 1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, / That costs thy life, my gallant grey.

   • 1833, Sporting Magazine, volume 6, page 400:

     Pioneer seemed now to have the game in his own hands; but the Captain, by taking two desperate leaps, cut off a corner, by which he regained the ground he had lost by the fall, and was up with the grey the remainder of the chase.

Translations

gray — see gray

See also

• greys

Colors in English · colors, colours (layout · text)

white	gray, grey	black
red; crimson	orange; brown	yellow; cream
lime, lime green	green	mint
cyan; teal	azure, sky blue	blue
violet; indigo	magenta; purple	pink

Anagrams

• -ergy, gyre

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse grey, from Proto-Germanic *grawją, cognate with Faroese groyggj. original meaning -meager dog (greyhound), whereas in english the semantic developed to simply a lean dog, this was transferred mostly from the dogs all toghether to mean a -poor little thing - a poor person. the semantic change to something poor has already taken place in the old language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kreiː/
• Rhymes: -eiː

Noun

grey n (genitive singular greys, nominative plural grey)

1. (archaic) bitch (female dog)
2. wretch, pitiful person

   Greyið mitt!

   You poor little thing!

   Greyið Jón

   Poor John

3. indefinite accusative singular of grey
4. indefinite nominative plural of grey
5. indefinite accusative plural of grey

Declension

declension of grey

n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	grey	greyið	grey	greyin
accusative	grey	greyið	grey	greyin
dative	greyi	greyinu	greyjum	greyjunum
genitive	greys	greysins	greyja	greyjanna

Middle English

Alternative forms

• grei, gray, grai, greye, gry, græi, gro, gra, greȝe, greiȝe

Etymology

From Old English grǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡræi̯/
• Rhymes: -æi̯

Adjective

grey (plural and weak singular greye)

1. grey, dull, drab (in color)
2. glinting, glistening

Descendants

• English: gray, grey
• Scots: gray
• Yola: gry

References

• “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.

Noun

grey

1. grey (colour)
2. Fur of the grey squirrel
3. grey clothes
4. grey textiles
5. An elderly man
6. A badger

Descendants

• English: gray, grey
• Scots: gray
• Yola: gry

References

• “grei, adj. & n..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
• “grei, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.
• “grei, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-30.

See also

Colors in Middle English · coloures, hewes (layout · text)

whit	grey, hor	blak
red; cremesyn, gernet	citrine, aumbre; broun, tawne	yelow, dorry, gul; canevas
grasgrene	grene
plunket; ewage	asure, livid	blewe, blo, pers
violet; inde	rose, murrey; purpel, purpur	claret

Portuguese

Noun

grey m (plural greys)

1. Alternative form of gray (race of extraterrestrials)

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish grey, from Latin gregem, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾei/ [ˈɡɾei̯]
• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: grey

Noun

grey f (plural greyes)

1. (obsolete, poetic) flock, herd

   Synonyms: rebaño, rehala

2. (religion) flock (people served by a pastor, priest, etc., also all believers in a church or religion)

   Synonyms: rebaño, feligresía, congregación, iglesia

   • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:

     toda la grey díscola y ladina de aquellas verdes montañas

     the whole rebellious and cunning flock from those green mountains

Derived terms

• agregar
• gregario

 

Related terms

• cabra
• oveja

 

See also

• (animals): ganado, hato, parvada, manada, jauría, cardumen, enjambre

Further reading

• “grey”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “grey”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos, page 208