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• olive
  olive

  noun

  an evergreen tree, Olea europaea, of Mediterranean and other warm regions, cultivated chiefly for its fruit.
• Olive
  Olive

  noun

  a female given name.

olive

¹ American  

[ol-iv] / ˈɒl ɪv /

noun

• olives
  plural

1. an evergreen tree, Olea europaea, of Mediterranean and other warm regions, cultivated chiefly for its fruit.

2. the fruit of this tree, a small oval drupe, eaten as a relish and used as a source of oil.

3. Also called olive wood. the wood of this tree, valued for ornamental work.

4. the foliage of this tree.

5. a wreath of it.

6. any of various related or similar trees.

7. olive branch.

8. the ocher green or dull yellow green of the unripe olive fruit.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or made of olives, their foliage, or their fruit.

2. of the color olive.

3. tinged with this color.

   an olive complexion.

Olive ² American  

[ol-iv] / ˈɒl ɪv /

noun

1. a female given name.

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olive British  

/ ˈɒlɪv /

noun

1. an evergreen oleaceous tree, Olea europaea, of the Mediterranean region but cultivated elsewhere, having white fragrant flowers, and edible shiny black fruits

2. the fruit of this plant, eaten as a relish and used as a source of olive oil

3. the wood of the olive tree, used for ornamental work

4. any of various trees or shrubs resembling the olive

5. 1. a yellow-green colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      an olive coat

6. an angler's name for the dun of various mayflies or an artificial fly in imitation of this

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or made of the olive tree, its wood, or its fruit

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subolive
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• olives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of olive

1150–1200; Middle English < Old French < Latin olīva, by-form of olea < dialectal Greek *elaíwa olive, olive tree; cf. oil, oleaceous

Explanation

An olive is a very small fruit, although you probably think of it as a savory snack. You might find an olive on a salad, on a pizza, or even on a toothpick in your martini. Olives are so naturally bitter that they're basically inedible unless they've been treated — cured with lye or salt, and then fermented. In addition to the olives you see in jars on grocery store shelves, olive trees yield an expensive, durable wood; and of course, olive oil. You can also describe the yellowish-green color of an unripe olive as olive. And when someone offers "an olive branch," they are trying to make peace or come to an understanding.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

olive Olive olives

Follow the narrow, winding streets in search of handmade leather goods, silver jewelry, spices and herbs, olive oil and products made from Bodrum tangerines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

It’s a small-batch olive oil produced in California.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The Low-Dose UV Study included 58 people with light to olive skin.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

A team of biologists working in the early morning hours Friday collected the olive ridley sea turtle eggs and transferred them to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, the agencies said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Twenty minutes later, I’m pretending to eat paella but really eating more bread dipped in olive oil than paella.

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King

Fawley relocated to London, after he married his wife Olive, and he continued to work for the telecoms company.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

There’s Olive, 12, from Charlotte, North Carolina, whose goal is to sell 8,000 boxes and who already possesses the polished ease of someone who understands how to speak to an audience.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

Many came to Interested in Olive Oil’s defense, calling the reference refreshingly kooky; others wondered why they hadn’t included a touch more detail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Within the conference, the biggest area belonged to Olive Young Festa market, which was filled with beauty brands trying to get their name in front of people.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

When Henry doesn’t like what Olive is saying, he’ll say “speaking of...” and then change the subject completely.

From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Ashtiyeh and another AFP photographer, John Wessels, were near the northern village of Aqraba where they noticed an Israeli soldier detaining a man as local Palestinians picked olives.

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

When the 2023 flood came, his crew scrambled to set up about 30 diesel pumps and sent water flowing onto a vineyard and orchards of almonds, pistachios and olives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

In her formal review, she was less forgiving: “Green olives don’t belong on Caesar and this one was lacking an adequate amount of croutons.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Serve either spritz—or both, each takes five minutes to make—with olives, an antipasti plate or, if you’d rather order in, a couple of pizzas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

The old couple had welcomed Mary into their little vine-sheltered farmhouse, had plied her with wine and cheese and bread and olives, and now didn’t want to let her go.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Related Words

• beige
• brownish
• drab
• khaki