ashy
/ˈæʃi/
ashy adjective: resembling ashes (especially in colour); (of a person’s complexion) unusually pale as a result of strong emotion, illness, etc.
Adjective
ashy (comparative ashier, superlative ashiest)
- Resembling ashes (especially in colour); (of a person’s complexion) unusually pale as a result of strong emotion, illness, etc.
- Still is he sullein, still he lowres and frets, / Twixt crimson shame, and anger ashie pale,1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
- Tell her that sicknesse, with her ashie hand, / Hath swept away the beauty from my cheekes,1634 (first performance), Thomas Heywood, Loves Maistresse: Or, The Queens Masque. […], London: […] Robert Raworth, for Iohn Crowch; and are to bee sold by Iasper Emery, […], published 1636, →OCLC...
- Synonyms:
- ashen, cineraceous, cinereous
- Comprising, containing, or covered with ash.
- Ye heauenly spirites, whose ashie cinders lie / Vnder deep ruines, with huge walls opprest,1591, Joachim du Bellay, “Ruines of Rome: By Bellay”, in Ed[mund] Sp[enser], transl., Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
- [W]here yet the Embers glow, / Wide o’er the Pyle the sable Wine they throw, / And deep subsides the ashy Heap below.1720, Homer, “Book XXIII”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 75
- Synonyms:
- cinereous
- Having dry or dead skin (therefore discolored).
- It was summer and his pants were short, so the pickle juice made clean streams down his ashy legs[…]1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 4, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Random House, →ISBN, page 22
- After passing it under her runny nose, a skinny chalk-colored girl raised a hand so disgustingly ashy, so white and dry-skinned, that it could only be black.2015, Paul Beatty, chapter 11, in The Sellout, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 159
ashy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
ashy in Hindi
- ashy
- छाई chāī
ashy in Tamil
- சாம்பலுரிய, நீறுபூத்த, சாம்பல் போர்த்த, சாம்பல் படிந்த, சாம்பல் நிறமான
ashy in Urdu
- ashy
- چھائی chāī
ashy in Malayalam
- ashy
- ചാര cāra
Examples of ashy in a sentence
- Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep.1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 11, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC, chapter IX, page 126:
- Beyond that black clot the sea lay, pale with last ashy gleam of day.1968, Ursula K. Le Guin, chapter 7, in A Wizard of Earthsea, page 123:
- […] I saw her sitting on the hearth in a ragged chair, close before, and lost in the contemplation of, the ashy fire.1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter X, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published...
- He lit the paper until it burned to an ashy film.1991, Edwidge Danticat, “A Wall of Fire Rising”, in Krik? Krak!, New York: Soho Press:
Synonyms of ashy
Forms of ashy
| comparative | ashier |
|---|---|
| superlative | ashiest |
Origin of ashy
From Middle English asshy, asky, equivalent to ash + -y.
Words formed from ashy
Phrases with ashy
Words that rhyme with ashy
Questions about ashy
- What does ashy mean?
- Ashy means resembling ashes (especially in colour); (of a person’s complexion) unusually pale as a result of strong emotion, illness, etc.
- What is ashy in Hindi?
- Ashy in Hindi is छाई (chāī). See Ashy meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ashy in a sentence?
- Again the operation; again the narcotic; again some return of colour to the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy sleep.
- What part of speech is ashy?
- Ashy is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce ashy?
- Ashy is pronounced /ˈæʃi/.
Words near ashy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ashy (page history and authors); छाई (Hindi) (page history and authors); ashy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); چھائی (Urdu) (page history and authors); ചാര (Malayalam) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ashy.wav.
Cite this entry: “ashy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ashy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.