sallow

[sal-oh]

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adjective, sal·low·er, sal·low·est.

of a sickly, yellowish or lightish brown color: sallow cheeks; a sallow complexion.

verb (used with object)

to make sallow.

Origin of sallow

before 1000; Middle English sal(o)we, Old English salo; cognate with Old Norse sǫlr yellow; compare French sale dirty (< Gmc)

Related formssal·low·ish, adjectivesal·low·ness, noun

Synonyms for sallow

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sallow ON THESAURUS.COM

1. bilious, jaundiced.

sallow

[sal-oh]

noun British.

any of several shrubby Old World willows, especially Salix atrocinerea or the pussy willow, S. caprea.

Origin of sallow

before 900; Middle English; Old English sealh; cognate with Old High German salaha, Latin salix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sallow

pasty, wan, muddy, jaundiced, dull, anemic, ashen, colorless, pallid, waxy, yellowish, ashy, bilious

Examples from the Web for sallow

Contemporary Examples of sallow

Lincoln would endure bout after bout of the hypos, until a permanent sadness settled onto his sallow face.
Making Lincoln Sexy: Jerome Charyn’s Fictional President
Tom LeClair
March 6, 2014
Junkies have their own look (emaciated, haunted, sallow) and their own junk names: Doolie, Cash, and Dupré.
American Dreams, 1953: ‘Junky’ by William S. Burroughs
Nathaniel Rich
June 27, 2013
This John is sickly and sallow, his body lacking plasticity.
Caravaggio's Grand Passions
Adam Eaker
June 11, 2010

Historical Examples of sallow

They were hard-featured men, sallow of complexion, rigid in their looks.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
Her face was sallow and dry, and the luster had gone from her black hair.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
The perspiration stood in beads on the boy's sallow forehead; but he said nothing.
The Boy Life of Napoleon
Eugenie Foa
His cheek was sallow, his nose aquiline, his mouth compressed.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
Under his ruddy tan his skin was no longer fresh, but dull and sallow.
Louisiana Lou
William West Winter

British Dictionary definitions for sallow

sallow

adjective

(esp of human skin) of an unhealthy pale or yellowish colour

verb

(tr) to make sallow

Derived Formssallowish, adjectivesallowly, adverbsallowness, noun

Word Origin for sallow

Old English salu; related to Old Norse sol seaweed (Icelandic sōlr yellowish), Old High German salo, French sale dirty

sallow

noun

any of several small willow trees, esp the Eurasian Salix cinerea (common sallow), which has large catkins that appear before the leaves

a twig or the wood of any of these trees

Derived Formssallowy, adjective

Word Origin for sallow

Old English sealh; related to Old Norse selja, Old High German salaha, Middle Low German salwīde, Latin salix

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sallow

adj.

Old English salo "dusky, dark" (related to sol "dark, dirty"), from Proto-Germanic *salwa- (cf. Middle Dutch salu "discolored, dirty," Old High German salo "dirty gray," Old Norse sölr "dirty yellow"), from PIE root *sal- "dirty, gray" (cf. Old Church Slavonic slavojocije "grayish-blue color," Russian solovoj "cream-colored"). Related: Sallowness.

"shrubby willow plant," Old English sealh (Anglian salh), from Proto-Germanic *salhjon (cf. Old Norse selja, Old High German salaha, and first element in German compound Salweide), from PIE *sal(i)k- "willow" (cf. Latin salix "willow," Middle Irish sail, Welsh helygen, Breton halegen "willow"). French saule "willow" is from Frankish salha, from the Germanic root. Used in Palm Sunday processions and decorations in England before the importing of real palm leaves began.

sallow in Medicine

sallow

[săl′ō]

adj.

Of a sickly yellowish hue or complexion.

v.

To make sallow.