beige
Americannoun
adjective
noun
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a very light brown, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, similar to the colour of undyed wool
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( as adjective )
beige gloves
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a fabric made of undyed or unbleached wool
Etymology
Origin of beige
1855–60; < French; Old French bege, of uncertain origin
Explanation
Beige is a tan color with a reputation for being neutral, if not boring. Khaki pants and coffee with lots of cream might be beige. Beige does not sound the way it looks. The "ei" is pronounced like a long "a" (as in "cake") and the "g" is a soft "zh" sound. This is because beige comes straight out of French, where it originally meant a fabric of the color we now know as beige. See? Beige has some interesting qualities for such a boring color.
Vocabulary lists containing beige
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Foreman grew up in South L.A., in a beige house off of Century Boulevard and Western Avenue, and used to take the bus to Holley Park to play baseball with his friends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Maduro and Flores wore beige jail uniforms and both appear to have lost weight during their detention in Brooklyn.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
And once my fall appetite returns — the appetite for the beige and the brown — I make mushrooms.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
Hints of gold, beige and dusty rose completed the palette.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
She sat in the middle tier of benches, a long beige shearling coat wrapped around her.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
