adjective
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resembling milk, esp in colour or cloudiness
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of or containing milk
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spiritless or spineless
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Judaism another word for milchik
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of milky
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at milk, -y 1
Explanation
Anything milky looks like milk — it's whitish and cloudy. Soapy bathwater, pale skin, and the sap inside some plants can all be described as milky. You can use milky to talk about a friend's clear, light complexion, and you can also use it to describe something that has milk in it: "I like my tea sweet and milky." Sometimes you'll find this word describing something that's clouded, like an elderly dog's milky eyes. Our galaxy, in fact, is known as the Milky Way because its shining band of stars can't be individually seen without a telescope, so they appear cloudy or milky.
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.
Not cloying, not milky, not trying to be liked by everyone at the bake sale.
From Salon • Mar. 5, 2026
A lonely coyote stalks the barren ground around oil pump jacks; a dead deer, its eye milky white, lies on a fern-like blanket of boughs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
And the brand, famous for its "glass and a half" of milk, was less milky, she said.
From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025
From coffee infused with yuzu to milky mango topped with matcha mousse, these are our favorite picks for over-the-top drinks that taste just as good as they look.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025
I shrug and pour out the milky water.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
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.
