white

1 of 3

adjective

ˈ(h)wīt 

whiter; whitest

1

a

: having the color of new snow or milk

specifically : of the color white (see white entry 2 sense 1)

white socks

a white rabbit

b

: light or pale in color

white hair

white wine

lips white with fear

c

: free from color : clear, transparent

white vinegar

vodka and other white liquors

d

: lustrous pale gray : silvery

white alloy wheels

also : made of silver

… each ball containing 1.366 ounces of pure silver, would cost $204.90 compared with $5.29 at the white metal's pre-1967 price of 1.29 …

—William L. Silber

2

a

or less commonly White : of or relating to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin

Note: The meaning of white as it relates to population groups has historically been fluid, with people of particular ancestries being excluded for a time before being included, and vice versa. The category has also often functioned as a grouping into which people who are not designated as belonging in some other category are placed. Specific parameters are, however, sometimes set, as in the U.S. 2020 Census, which stipulates that "the category of 'White' includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa."

b

or less commonly White : of or relating to white people or their culture

books from the canon of white literature

c

dated, offensive : marked by upright fairness

That's mighty white of you

Note: This use of white is sometimes used ironically.

3

: free from spot or blemish: such as

a(1)

: free from moral impurity : innocent

the pure white heart of the devout

(2)

: marked by the wearing of white by the woman as a symbol of purity

a white wedding

b

: unmarked by writing or printing

a writer trying to will the white space on the page away

c

: not intended to cause harm

a white lie

white magic

d

archaic : favorable, fortunate

one of the white days of his life

—Walter Scott

4

a

: wearing or habited in white

white friars

b

: marked by the presence of snow : snowy

a white Christmas

5

a

: heated to the point of whiteness

molten white metal

b

: notably ardent : passionate

white fury

6

a

: conservative or reactionary in political outlook and action

b

: instigated or carried out by reactionary forces as a counterrevolutionary measure

a white terror

7

: of, relating to, or constituting a musical tone quality characterized by a controlled pure sound, a lack of warmth and color, and a lack of resonance

8

: consisting of a wide range of frequencies

—used of light, sound, and electromagnetic radiation

whitish

ˈ(h)wī-tish 

adjective

white

2 of 3

noun

plural whites

1

: the achromatic object color of greatest lightness characteristically perceived to belong to objects that reflect diffusely nearly all incident energy throughout the visible spectrum

2

: one that is or approaches white in color: such as

a

: white clothing

—often used in plural

b

: white wine

c

: a white mammal (such as a horse or a hog)

d(1)

: a white-colored product (such as flour)

—usually used in plural

(2)

: any of numerous butterflies (subfamily Pierinae of the family Pieridae) that usually have the ground color of the wings white and are related to the sulphur butterflies

e

whites plural : teeth

—used in the phrase pearly whites

3

: a person belonging to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin

Note: This meaning of the noun white is usually used in the plural form and typically in contexts about population groups, as in "a policy supported by many rural whites."

4

a

: a white or light-colored part of something: such as

(1)

: a mass of albuminous material surrounding the yolk of an egg

(2)

: the white part of the eyeball

(3)

: the light-colored pieces in a 2-player board game

also : the player by whom these are played

(4)

: the area of a page unmarked by writing, printing, or illustration

b(1)

archaic : a white target

(2)

: the fifth or outermost circle of an archery target

also : a shot that hits it

5

whites plural : leukorrhea

6

often capitalized : a member of a conservative or reactionary political group

white

3 of 3

verb

whited; whiting

transitive verb

archaic

: whiten

Synonyms

Adjective

• colorless
• tintless [archaic]
• uncolored
• undyed
• unpainted
• unstained

Examples of white in a Sentence

Adjective

He was wearing white sneakers.

He had a long, white beard.

Her lips were white with fear.

He turned white when he heard the news.

He came from a white middle-class background.

His mother is Hispanic and his father is white.

Noun

the whites of his eyes

The cake recipe calls for four egg whites.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

More white people claim the credit than Black people certainly. —Tax Notes Staff, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2023

Black people make up about 14% of the U.S. population but are three times more likely to face hunger than white people, according to the Agriculture Department. —Maya Eaglin, NBC News, 11 Feb. 2023

Noun

Made with European white down, this will help deliver the ideal amount of plushness and warmth. —Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 2 Dec. 2024

One of Yakub’s tricks was the Civil Rights Movement and its promise to enable Blacks to live peacefully side by side with whites. —Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 1 Dec. 2024

Verb

Plus, the enormous baby has a healthy appetite, feasting on 25 fish—sand whiting, rainbow trout and salmon—each day. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2024

Whip egg whites: Beat egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. —Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 13 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English whit, white, going back to Old English hwīt "white, bright, shining," going back to Germanic *hwīta- (whence also Old Frisian hwīt, hwītt, wīt, wit "white," Old Saxon hwīt "white, bright," Middle Dutch wit, witt "white," Middle Low German wit, witte, Old High German hwīz, wīz, Old Icelandic hvítr, Gothic ƕeits), probably going back to Indo-European *ḱu̯ei̯t-nó-, whence also, with zero-grade, Sanskrit śvítnaḥ "whitish," and without suffixal -n- Sanskrit áśvait "(it) brightened," śvitāná- "brightening," śvetáḥ "white, bright," Avestan spaēta-, Old Church Slavic světŭ "light, radiance," svěštǫ, světiti "to shine, give light," Lithuanian šviečiù, šviẽsti "to shine, shine a light (for)"; (sense 2c) from the stereotypical and racist association of good character with northern European descent; (sense 6) from the association of white with royalist and counterrevolutionary causes, perhaps originally from its use in the cockades and flags of the Bourbon dynasty in France and the Jacobites in Britain

Note: Though this etymology for Germanic *hwīta- seems likely in broad outline, the details are problematic. The *-t- in the Indo-European etymon would lead one to expect a voiced or voiceless fricative in Germanic rather than a voiceless stop. The explanation for this lies in the assumption that the cluster *-tn- after the accent in the presumed pre-form *ḱu̯ei̯t-nó- produced a geminate t (Kluge's Law), which the individual Germanic languages have generally shortened after a long vowel (though this is arguably not the case for Old High German). The occasional tt spellings in Old Frisian, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German may be taken as traces of gemination. (E. Seebold, however, believes these forms are late and secondary, and points to the nominative neuter form hwitt in the Cotton Caligula manuscript of the Heliand—see Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.) Their descendants in the modern languages in part also show a short vowel, giving rise to yet another assumption, that these forms go back to a zero-grade adjective *ḱu̯it-nó-. The older literature on *hwīta- simply accepts that its Indo-European predecessor was *ḱu̯ei̯d-, with -d- being a different root extension than the -t- evident in the Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic words. See discussion and references in R. Lühr, Expressivität und Lautgesetz im Germanischen (Heidelberg, 1988), pp. 263-64; and in G. Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Brill, 2013), p. 267.

Noun

Middle English whit, white, going back to Old English hwīt, noun derivative of hwīt white entry 1

Verb

Middle English whiten, going back to Old English hwītan, hwītian, derivative of hwīt white entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4a

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing white

• Atlantic white cedar
• a white Christmas
• black and white
• bleed white
• Chinese white
• eastern white pine
• great white heron
• great white hope
• great white shark
• great white whale
• in black and white
• lily white
• non-white
• northern white cedar
• oceanic white-tipped shark
• off-white
• poor white
• raise the white flag
• snow-white
• the white pages
• titanium white
• West Highland white terrier
• white amur
• white ant
• white ash
• white bass
• white bean
• white birch
• white blood cell
• white book
• white-bread
• white cedar
• white cell
• white chip
• white chocolate
• white clover
• white coat effect
• white coat hypertension
• white coat syndrome
• white-collar
• white-collar crime
• white crappie
• white-crowned sparrow
• white dwarf
• white elephant
• white-faced
• white-faced hornet
• white feather
• white fir
• white flag
• white flight
• white flour
• white-footed mouse
• white friar
• white gas
• white gaze
• white-glove
• white gold
• white goods
• white grub
• white hat
• white-headed
• white heat
• white hole
• white hope
• white horses
• white-hot
• white hunter
• white knight
• white-knuckle
• white-knuckled
• white lead
• white lie
• white lightning
• white line
• white list
• white-livered
• white man's burden
• white marlin
• white matter
• white meat
• white metal
• white mustard
• white nationalist
• white noise
• white oak
• white oil
• white-on-white
• white pages
• white paper
• white pepper
• white perch
• white pine
• white-pine blister rust
• white potato
• white privilege
• white rhino
• white rhinoceros
• white rice
• white room
• white rust
• white sale
• white sauce
• white savior
• white savior complex
• white saviour
• white sea bass
• white shark
• white-shoe
• white slave
• white slaver
• white slavery
• white space
• white spirit
• white spruce
• white sucker
• white supremacist
• white supremacy
• white-tailed deer
• white tea
• white-throated sparrow
• white tie
• white-tipped shark
• white-tip reef shark
• white-tip shark
• white trash
• white walnut
• white water
• white way
• white wedding
• white whale
• white wine
• white zinfandel
• zinc white

Kids Definition

white

1 of 2 adjective

ˈhwīt 

ˈwīt

whiter; whitest

1

a

: having no color : clear

white vinegar

b

: of the color of new snow or milk

c

: light or pale in color

white hair

lips white with fear

d

: pale gray : silvery

2

often capitalized : of or relating to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin

3

: unmarked by writing or printing : blank

4

: not intended to cause harm

a white lie

white magic

5

: marked by the presence of snow

a white Christmas

whiteness noun

white

2 of 2 noun

1

: the color of fresh snow

2

: a white or light-colored thing or part (as the material around the yolk of an egg or the white part of the eyeball)

3

: one that is or approaches the color white: as

a

: white clothing

washed a load of whites

b

plural : teeth

—used in the phrase pearly whites

4

: a person belonging to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin

Geographical Definition

White

geographical name

1

river 690 miles (1110 kilometers) long in northern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri flowing southeast into the Mississippi River

2

river 250 miles (402 kilometers) long in northwestern Colorado and eastern Utah flowing west into the Green River

3

river 50 miles (80 kilometers) long in southwestern Indiana flowing west into the Wabash River

4

river 325 miles (523 kilometers) long in southern South Dakota flowing east into the Missouri River

5

river 130 miles (209 kilometers) long in northwestern Texas

Biographical Definition

White 1 of 9

biographical name (1)

ˈ(h)wīt 

Andrew Dickson 1832–1918 American educator and diplomat

White

2 of 9

biographical name (2)

Byron Raymond 1917–2002 American jurist

White

3 of 9

biographical name (3)

Edward Douglass 1845–1921 American jurist; chief justice U.S. Supreme Court (1910–21)

White

4 of 9

biographical name (4)

Elwyn Brooks 1899–1985 American journalist and writer

White

5 of 9

biographical name (5)

Gilbert 1720–1793 English clergyman and naturalist

White

6 of 9

biographical name (6)

Patrick Victor Martindale 1912–1990 Australian writer

White

7 of 9

biographical name (7)

Stanford 1853–1906 American architect

White

8 of 9

biographical name (8)

Theodore Harold 1915–1986 American journalist and writer

White

9 of 9

biographical name (9)

William Allen 1868–1944 American journalist and writer