sallow

¹ American  

[sal-oh] / ˈsæl oʊ /

adjective

sallower, sallowest

1. of a sickly, yellowish or lightish brown color.

   sallow cheeks; a sallow complexion.

   Synonyms:

   jaundiced, bilious

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verb (used with object)

1. to make sallow.

sallow ² American  

[sal-oh] / ˈsæl oʊ /

noun

British.

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

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sallow ¹ British  

/ ˈsæləʊ /

adjective

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

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verb

1. (tr) to make sallow

sallow ² British  

/ ˈsæləʊ /

noun

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

2. a twig or the wood of any of these trees

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Other Word Forms

• sallowness
  noun
• sallowish
  adjective
• sallowy
  adjective
• sallowly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of sallow¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English sal(o)we, Old English salo; cognate with Old Norse sǫlr “yellow”; compare French sale “dirty” (from Germanic )

Origin of sallow²

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

Explanation

Sallow means unhealthy in appearance — often yellow in color — and is almost invariably used to describe someone's complexion. His smile was as engaging as ever, but from his sallow complexion, I knew he was sick. Usually we say that when someone is sick they turn "green." You could also say their skin takes on a sallow look, and you'd mean the same thing. Sallow also describes the way someone looks if they have lost blood or are pale from fever. This word comes from Germanic roots meaning "dusky" or "dirty."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sallow sallower sallowest

When they film themselves preening on their phones, with the images projected onto the giant mirrors, Claire and Solange use filters that turn their sallow, pinched faces into plump-lipped, high-cheekboned ones that suggest Kim Kardashian.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

The results were patchy, worsening the effect of my grown-out roots and sallow skin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2022

She glanced up at the sallow light of the former prison cell and, with a little laugh, quoted me a snatch of Heidegger: “Where there is danger, there grows what saves.”

From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2022

The haunting figure, his flesh a sallow yellow as if a waxwork, lies surrounded by brown fallen leaves.

From Reuters ● Apr. 6, 2022

Instead, he was narrow-shouldered and thin, with a sallow complexion and neatly trimmed dark hair.

From "Son" by Lois Lowry

His. long lank hair is still brown, makes him look like a smaller, sallower edition of the late Sir Henry Irving.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her face was sallower, and there was a long scar, partly hidden by the hair, across her forehead and temple; but that was not the change.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Maybe it was the light, but already I looked sallower, unhealthy.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

His face was even sallower than of yore, and there was no gleam in his dull green eyes.

From The Prince and Betty by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

The lines under his eyes were deeper, his skin seemed sallower.

From A People's Man by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

It was quite unaccountable that Mrs. Deane, the thinnest and sallowest of all the Miss Dodsons, should have had this child, who might have been taken for Mrs. Tulliver's any day.

From The Mill on the Floss by Eliot, George