pale.
Light in color.
Meaning & usage
Light in color.
I have pale yellow wallpaper.
She had pale skin because she didn't get much sunlight.
Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
His face turned pale after hearing about his mother's death.
Feeble, faint.
He is but a pale shadow of his former self.
The son's clumsy paintings are a pale imitation of his father's.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.
To turn pale; to lose colour.
To become insignificant.
To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.
Paleness; pallor.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.
A wooden stake; a picket.
A fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
Limits, bounds (especially before of).
A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction. The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction. The territory around Calais under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction. A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live (the Pale of Settlement).
The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
A cheese scoop.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English pale, pal, borrowed from Old French pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”). English inherited the word pole (or, rather Old English pāl) from a much older Proto-Germanic borrowing of the same Latin word. Doublet of peel and pole.
To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English pale, pal, borrowed from Old French pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”). English inherited the word pole (or, rather Old English pāl) from a much older Proto-Germanic borrowing of the same Latin word. Doublet of peel and pole.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.