pastel.
Any of several subdued tints of colors, usually associated with pink, peach, yellow, green, blue, and lavender.
Meaning & usage
Any of several subdued tints of colors, usually associated with pink, peach, yellow, green, blue, and lavender.
A drawing made with any of those colors.
A type of dried paste used to make crayons.
A crayon made from such a paste.
Woad.
Wool was dyed in the pastel vat.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō) Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τός (-tós) Ancient Greek παστός (pastós) Ancient Greek παστά (pastá)bor. Latin pasta Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -ellus Latin pastellus Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Italic *-om Latin -um Latin pastellum Italian pastelloder. French pastelbor. English pastel Borrowed from French pastel, from Italian pastello (“pastel”), from Medieval Latin pastellum (“dough, paste”), from Latin pasta (“dough, paste”), ultimately from Ancient Greek πάστη (pástē, “dough, paste”). Doublet of pastegh, pastiglia, pastila, pastilla, and pastille.
A traditional dish in various Latin American countries and in Indonesia, resembling a tamale, pasty, or calzone.
A Filipino stew made with vegetables, sausages, and chicken or other meat in a creamy sauce.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō) Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τός (-tós) Ancient Greek παστός (pastós) Ancient Greek παστά (pastá)bor. Latin pasta Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -ellus Latin pastellus Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Italic *-om Latin -um Latin pastellum Italian pastelloder. Old French pastelder. Spanish pastelbor. English pastel Borrowed from Spanish pastel, ultimately the same word as Etymology 1.
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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.