Etymology
Origin of jaundiced
Explanation
So you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. To your surprise, and horror, instead of your usual rosy complexion, your skin is yellow and the whites of your eyes are yellow, too! You, my friend, are jaundiced. Jaundice is from the Greek, ikteros, which referred to both the disease and a rare, yellow bird. It was thought that someone with jaundice could stare at this yellow bird, and the jaundice would be magically transferred to the bird. Jaundiced can also refer to ideas or feelings being distorted by negative views or qualities, since yellow has been associated with bitterness and envy. Too bad there is no bird to get rid of that!
Vocabulary lists containing jaundiced
Educated
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Fever 1793
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The Bluest Eye
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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.
Sarah told the BBC she had to plead with doctors at City Hospital for her son to be seen by senior doctors after he began having seizures and became jaundiced.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
Though undeniably popular, social media is regarded now with an increasingly jaundiced eye, as the suits against Meta have proved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
In summary, we are viewing the failure of SPX to be able to convincingly push through to new all-time highs with a jaundiced eye.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026
Mr. Coen’s view of the contemporary dating scene seems both jaundiced and out of touch.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
There was some cruel intelligence in its jaundiced eye that made me ponder this and made me grateful for the chain.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
Definitions 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.
