Word.ws English Dictionary

white

/ˈwaɪt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Scotland/ˈʍʌɪt/

white adjective: bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light. Also the ellipsis of white bread.

white: bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light
Image: Badseed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective (1)

white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)

  1. Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
    • Write in black ink on white paper.
    • white as the whitest lily on a stream.c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Holidays
    Antonyms:
    black, nonwhite, unwhite
  2. (capitalized, sometimes) Of or relating to Europeans or those of European descent, regardless if their skin has cool or warm undertones.
  3. (capitalized, sometimes) Of or relating to Caucasians (people with white complexion and European ancestry).
    • […]more white corporations cognizant of the mounting purchasing power of the Negro consumer, have Negro representatives in the field[…].1949, Wendell P. Alston, “The Green Book”, in The Negro Motorist Green Book, New York: Victor H. Green, published 1949, page 3
    • Ms. Ringwald finds a few things about these films regrettable. One thing she found "significantly disturbing," she wrote, "was how white the films are."2004 May 9, Michael Joseph Gross, “When the Losers Ruled in Teenage Movies”, in New York Times
  4. (capitalized, sometimes) By U.S. Census Bureau definition, of or relating to people hailing from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
  5. (historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.
    • white drinking fountain
    • white hospital
  6. Relatively light or pale in colour.
    • white wine
    • white grapes
  7. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
    • Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! / They come! they come!"1812–1818, Lord Byron, “(please specify |canto=I to IV)”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by...
  8. Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.
    Synonyms:
    fair, pale
    Antonyms:
    tanned
  9. With leucism.
    • Why should the birthplace of the gods in ancient Egyptian times align with the birthplace of the White Lions in our times?2010, Linda Tucker, “Gold: Subterranean Sun” (chapter 21), in Mystery of the White Lions: Children of the Sun God, Hay House, page 218
  10. Containing cream, milk, or creamer.
    Antonyms:
    black
  11. (board games) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.
    • The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.
    • Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, page 21
  12. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
    • a white monk
Show 10 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (offensive, often, uncommon) Honourable, fair, decent, kind; generous.
    • White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Second Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […]...
    • 'The preacher had not proceeded far in his sermon,' said the man, ' before I thought him the whitest man I ever saw. My hat was instantly taken off and thrown under the seat, and I found myself listening with the most profound attention.'1837, M. Huxley, in Timothy Mather Cooley, Sketches of the life and character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A. M., for many years pastor of a church in Rutland, Vt., and late in Granville, New-York...
  2. Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
    • Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head / So old and white as this.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  3. (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
    • On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown...
  4. (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
    • I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore
  5. Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
    • Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction.1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 163
  6. Made from immature leaves and shoots.
    • Most often consisting of a budset pluck, a frost tea has the clarity and freshness of a white tea, with the richness and lingering finish of a finely crafted black tea.2012, Mary Lou Heiss, Robert J. Heiss, The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook, →ISBN
  7. Not containing characters; see white space.
  8. Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character or symbol filled with color”).
    • Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"
  9. Characterised by the presence of snow.
    • a white Christmas
    • a white Easter
  10. Alwhite, pertaining to white armor.
    • For instance, tyro jousters in fifteenth-century Iberia wore “white armor,” while experienced men wore surcoats over their harness (Fallows 2010, 80), while fabric-covered breastplates are depicted in many examples of fifteenth-century northern European art.2015 August 31, Albrecht Classen, Handbook of Medieval Culture, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN

Noun (1)

white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)

  1. The color of snow or milk; the color of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
    • Not only were the platforms tiled in white, the tunnels were painted white too - to prettify them, and make them less claustrophobic - and the Central proudly issued a postcard of its tunnel-whitening machine.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 117
  2. A person of European descent with light-colored skin.
    • The Indians carried first our canoes and then our stores through the brushwood, which is very thick at this point, while we four whites, our rifles on our shoulders, walked between them and any danger coming from the woods.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
    • We could have ridden for weeks, possibly months, and never seen a white man had it not been that Laurie was riding from scattered white to white.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 81
  3. Any butterfly of the subfamily Pierinae in the family Pieridae.
    • Several other beautiful butterflies rewarded my search in this place [...] The most abundant butterflies were the whites and yellows (Pieridae), several of which I had already found at Lombock and at Coupang, while others were new to me.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 297
  4. White wine.
    • A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / In our Italian Restaurant.1977, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in Billy Joel (music), The Stranger
    • Those were my first impressions of wine: Ladies drink chilled, soft white while they gossip in the kitchen; old men drink strong, room-temperature red to get shellacked.2014, Maximillian Potter, Shadows in the Vineyard
  5. White coffee
  6. The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
  7. The sclera, white of the eye.
    • You could see from afar the white of their eyeballs glistening.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 203
  8. The cue ball in cue games.
  9. (UK, US, slang) Cocaine.
    • I've got to hit the streets; I've got to move this white.2004, “On The Run”, Kanye West (music), performed by Bump J ft. Rick James, Atlantic
    • Ten grand a week we were clearing: base, white, meth, weed, anything. I can get you anything to get you high.2019 January 20, Ann Cleeves, Paul Matthew Thompson, “Cuckoo” (1:26:51 from the start), in Lawrence Gough, director, Vera, season 9, episode 2 (TV series), spoken by Tyler Lennon (Louis Healy)
  10. The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.
  11. A white pigment.
    • Venice white
  12. A white bean.
    • Nearly two-thirds of the Idaho crop has been great northerns, one-sixth small reds, and the remainder small flat whites and pintos and seed for snap beans and baby limas (table 21).1952, Columbia River and Tributaries, Northwestern United States, United States Government Printing Office, page 3764
Show 4 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
    • 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
    • Also it giueth a great grace to your writing, if the whites of certeine letters bee made of one equall bignesse with the o. supposing the same were all round, as the white of the b. of the a. p. y. v. w. x. q. d. g. and s.1594, Hugh Plat, chapter 38, in The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, page 42
    • […] the a. b. d. g. o. p. q. &c. […] must be made with equal whites.1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 18
  3. A feather, from the wing of the cock ostrich, that is of the palest possible shade.
    • 3.—Wing-Quills or Remiges; Whites and Feminas.—The wing-quills are the largest feathers in the wing, and are arranged in a single row. They include the “Whites” in the cock, and the “Feminas” in the hen, as well as the “Byocks” or “Fancies” in the cock.1909, Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope, page 514
    • The usual kinds of ostrich feathers known to the trade come into the Tripoli market. These are whites, blacks, feminas, byocks, spadonas, boos, drabs and floss.1909 August 12, “Ostrich Feathers of Tripoli”, in Neenah Daily Times, volume 53, number 8,451, Neenah, Wis.; Menasha, Wis., column 5
    Synonyms:
    prime
  4. (board games) The person playing with the white set of pieces.
    • In this position, white has an opportunity to make a good move.
    • 1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end. The best White can do is 3 Qc3+ Qxc3 4 Rxc3 Rxe1 when Black also wins the Bf1 and will be two pieces up.2023 January 13, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Carlsen takes on young guns at Wijk as world champion eyes record”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 23 Jan 2023

Verb

white (third-person singular simple present whites, present participle whiting, simple past and past participle whited)

  1. (transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.
    • Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 23:27
    • so as no fuller on earth can white them1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 9:3

Proper noun capitalized: White

White (countable and uncountable, plural Whites)

  1. A common British and Irish surname transferred from the nickname.
    • When Dana White barreled up to the microphone, at Donald Trump’s request, to say his piece on election night, it represented confirmation of the UFC CEO’s status as one of the key members of the president-elect’s inner circle.2024 November 16, Aaron Timms, “How UFC head Dana White became the glue between Maga and the manosphere”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 06 Feb 2025
  2. A minor city in Bartow County, Georgia; named for its first postmaster.
  3. A city in South Dakota; named for its first European settler.
  4. An unincorporated community in Washington; named for a Washington state judge.
  5. A ghost town in Missouri; named for a local mining official.

Adjective (2) capitalized: White

White (not comparable)

  1. (Canada, UK, US, sometimes) Alternative letter-case form of white (“of or relating to white complexion or Europeans”).
    • Unfortunately, many White people have been raised to believe that their race is intrinsically more prejudice than others.2025 April 8, Sarah Stock, “Five Common Myths About White People — Debunked”, in Rift TV, archived from the original on 12 Jan 2026

Noun (2) capitalized: White

White (plural Whites)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of white (“European”).
    • The Whites on the mission were a special kind of white person, special in the way that my grandmother had explained to me, for they were holy.1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 155
    • To add insult to injury, not only do Whites shame each other but every other race joins in because they are also educated to believe Whites have somehow screwed them over and are still screwing them over.2025 April 8, Sarah Stock, “Five Common Myths About White People — Debunked”, in Rift TV, archived from the original on 12 Jan 2026
  2. (historical) An anticommunist who fought against the Reds during the Russian Civil War; the term is mostly associated with monarchist forces.
  3. The player moving the white pieces.
    • The eight files (from left to right for White and from right to left for Black) are indicated by the small letters, a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h, respectively.2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE, archived from the original on 16 Mar 2025, page 21

Also used as

white is also the ellipsis of white bread.

white meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

white in Hindi

bright and colourless
सफ़ेद safed
color
सफ़ेद safed, श्वेत śvet
person of European descent
गोरा gorā, फ़िरंगी firaṅgī, फिरंगी phiraṅgī, फिरंग phiraṅg

white in Tamil

bright and colourless
வெள் veḷ
of or relating to Caucasians — see also Caucasian
வெள்ளையர் veḷḷaiyar
relatively light or pale in colour
வெளிர் veḷir
color
வெள்ளை veḷḷai

white in Marathi

bright and colourless
पांढरा pāṇḍhrā, सफेद saphed
color
पांढरा pāṇḍharā

white in Urdu

bright and colourless
سَفید safed
color
سَفید safed
person of European descent
فَرَن٘گی faraṅgī, فِرَن٘گی firaṅgī, گورا gorā
More languagesFewer languages
white in Bengali
সাদা śada, সফেদ śophed, সুফেদ śuphed, ধলা dhola
white in Telugu
తెల్లని tellani, తెలుపు telupu, శ్వేతము śvētamu, తెల్లవారు tellavāru
white in Malayalam
വെളുത്ത veḷutta, വെളുപ്പ് veḷuppŭ, വെള്ള veḷḷa
white in Kannada
ಬಿಳಿ biḷi
white in Punjabi
ਚਿੱਟਾ ciṭṭā, چٹا ciṭṭā, ਗੋਰਾ gorā, ਚਿੱਟੀ ciṭṭī
white in Gujarati
સફેદ saphed, ધોળિયો dhoḷiyo
white in Odia
ଧଳା dhaḷā, ଧବଳ dhabaḷa
white in Sanskrit
श्वेत śveta, धवल dhavala
white in Sinhala
සුදු sudu
white in Assamese
বগা boga, শুকুলা xukula, ধলা dhola
white in Nepali
सेतो seto
white in Pashto
سپين spin
white in Tagalog
puti, putiq
white in Arabic
أَبْيَض ʔabyaḍ, أبيض ʔabyaḍ, بيضا bēḍa, بيض bīḍ
white in Malay
putih, puteh, abiad, abyad
white in Indonesian
putih, bule, orang kulit putih
white in Persian
سَفید safēd, آق āq, سِفید sefid, فَرَنْگِی farangī
white in Thai
ขาว kǎao, ผิวขาว pǐu-kǎao, สีขาว sǐi-kǎao, ฝรั่ง fà-ràng
white in Vietnamese
trắng, bạch, người da trắng
white in Myanmar
ဖြူ hpru, ဖွေး hpwe:, အဖြူ a.hpru, လူဖြူ luhpru
Sindhi
اڇو ačʰo

Examples of white in a sentence

  • If you're from Africa, why are you white?2004, Tina Fey, Mean Girls, spoken by Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried):
  • “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”2025 December 21, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, quoting JD Vance, “Vance Refuses to Take Sides in G.O.P. Fight Over Bigotry”, in The New York Times...
  • A good fellow is Rayner; as white a man as I ever knew; and he has as many old friends as would make a good-sized city.1877, Walter Besant, James Rice, The Golden Butterfly, page 218:
  • No whiter page than Addison's remains. / He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, / And sets the passions on the side of Truth,1737, Alexander Pope, First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New...

All 40 example sentences with white

Synonyms of white

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of white

Forms of white

Adjective
comparativewhiter
comparativemore white
superlativewhitest
superlativemost white
alternative formWhite
alternative form (obsolete)whight
alternative form (obsolete)whyte
alternative form (obsolete)whyght
Noun
pluralwhites
pluralWhites
Verb
third-person singular presentwhites
present participlewhiting
past participlewhited
pastwhited
Proper noun
pluralWhites
alternative formWhyte
alternative formWight

Plural of white: whites

Origin of white

Inherited from Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hwīt, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Cognates * West Frisian wyt * Dutch wit * German weiß * German weiss * Norwegian Bokmål hvit * Norwegian Nynorsk kvit * Swedish vit * Danish hvid * Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”) * Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”) * Persian سفید (sefid, “white”), Persian سپید (sepid, “white”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀 (spaēta, “white”) * Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”)

* As an English surname, from Middle English White, as a nickname for someone with white hair or pale complexion; in some cases from a personal name of the same meaning. See the modern adjective white. * Also as an English surname, from Old English *wiht (“bend”), found only in placenames, a derivative of the verb wican (“to yield, bend”); compare Wight. * As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, used as a translation of several Gaelic names containing the element bán and geal, including Mac Giolla bháin (McElwain, Kilbane), Ó Gealagáin (Galligan), Bán (Bane), and Ó Banáin (Bannon). * Also as a Scottish and Irish surname, an Anglicization of Irish de Faoite, itself from Anglo-Norman le White, le Whyte, from the same source as the English surname.

Capitalized due to this racial sense's connotation of (current or historical) European origin, so as to follow the capitalization rules for nationalities and ethne, known in former centuries as “races” (e.g., “the Chinese race”, “the English race”), and also, perhaps, as a way to explicitly distinguish it from the color sense, which is never capitalized outside proper nouns.

Words formed from white

Phrases with white

182 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with white

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about white

What does white mean?
White means bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
What is white in Hindi?
White in Hindi is सफ़ेद (safed), श्वेत (śvet), गोरा (gorā). See White meaning in Hindi.
How do you use white in a sentence?
If you're from Africa, why are you white?
What part of speech is white?
White can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce white?
White is pronounced /ˈwaɪt/.

Words near white in the dictionary

  1. Whitcombe
  2. Whitcombes
  3. Whitcombs
  4. Whitcraft
  5. Whitcrafts
  6. white
  7. white acre
  8. white acres
  9. white adipose tissue
  10. white adipose tissues
  11. white admirable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: white (page history and authors); White (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: en-us-white.ogg, en-uk-white.ogg.

Cite this entry: “white.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/white. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.