English Explanatory Dictionary

beige

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A colour, variously defined from a pale brown, to a yellow greyish off-white.
  2. Debeige; a kind of woollen or mixed dress goods.
adj
  1. Having a slightly yellowish gray colour, as that of unbleached wool.
  2. Comfortably dull and unadventurous, in a way that suggests middle-class suburbia.

Pronunciation

/ˈbeɪʒ/ /ˈbeɪd͡ʒ/ en-us-beige.ogg /ˈbɛjʒ/ /ˈbɛjd͡ʒ/ /ˈbæɪʒ/ /ˈbæɪd͡ʒ/ /ˈbeʒ/ /ˈbed͡ʒ/ /ˈbeiʒ/ /ˈbeid͡ʒ/

Word forms

beige beiges beiger more beige beigest most beige

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French (dialectal) beige, from Old French bege (“color of undyed wool or cotton”), from an Alpine language (compare Franco-Provençal bézho, Romansch besch (“dull grey”)), from Vulgar Latin *bysseus (“cottony grey”) (compare French bis, Catalan bis, Italian bigio), from Late Latin byssus (“cotton”), from Ancient Greek βύσσος (bússos, “cotton homespun”), from Semitic (compare Hebrew/Aramaic בוץ (būṣ)). Doublet of bice.

Synonyms

bland indistinct colorless drab tedious

Derived words

Beige Book beige box beige fat beige flag beigeish beigeist beigely beigeness beige prose beigey beiging beigist sad beige
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