English Explanatory Dictionary

dye

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A colorant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.
  2. Any hue or color.
verb
  1. To colour with dye, or as if with dye.
noun
  1. Archaic spelling of die (“a cube used in games of chance”).
name
  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Platte County, Missouri, United States.

Pronunciation

/daɪ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-dye.wav

Word forms

dye dyes die dyeing dying dyed dyce

Etymology

From Middle English deye, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-West Germanic *daugu (“color, shade”), from *daugan (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”). Cognates Cognate with Old High German tougan (“dark, secretive”), tougal (“dark, hidden, covert”), Old English dēagol, dīegle (“dark, hidden, secret”), Old English dohs, dox (“dusky, dark”). See dusk.

Synonyms

colorant tincture tint stain shade streak

Related words

diolistic ink

Derived words

dyehouse dye-house dye job dyeless dyelike dyeline dye pack dyepot dyery dyestuff dye-sub dye tracer dyewater dyewood dyework dyeworks of the deepest dye purple dye murex tie and dye tie-dye bedye counterdye deep-dye dyability dyeability dyeable dyebath dyed dyed-in-the-wool dyeing dye in the wool dyer dying overdye predye redye undye undyeable undyed
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