yellow

American  

[yel-oh] / ˈyɛl oʊ /

noun

1. a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nanometers.

2. the yolk of an egg.

3. a yellow pigment or dye.

4. Informal. yellow light.

5. Slang. yellow jacket.

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adjective

yellower, yellowest

1. of the color yellow.

2. Disparaging and Offensive.

   1. designating or pertaining to an Asian person or Asian peoples.

   2. designating or pertaining to a person of mixed racial origin, especially of black and white heritage.

3. having a sallow or yellowish complexion.

4. Informal. cowardly.

   Synonyms:

   fearful, timorous, craven

5. 1. (of a newspaper, book, etc.) featuring articles, pictures, or other content that is sensational, especially morbidly or offensively so.

      yellow rags;

      yellow biographies.

   2. dishonest in editorial comment and the presentation of news, especially in sacrificing truth for sensationalism, as in

6. jealous; envious.

verb (used with or without object)

1. to make or become yellow.

   Yellow the sheets with dye.

   The white stationery had yellowed with age.

yellow British  

/ ˈjɛləʊ /

noun

1. any of a group of colours that vary in saturation but have the same hue. They lie in the approximate wavelength range 585–575 nanometres. Yellow is the complementary colour of blue and with cyan and magenta forms a set of primary colours

2. a pigment or dye of or producing these colours

3. yellow cloth or clothing

   dressed in yellow

4. the yolk of an egg

5. a yellow ball in snooker, etc

6. any of a group of pieridine butterflies the males of which have yellow or yellowish wings, esp the clouded yellows ( Colias spp.) and the brimstone

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adjective

1. of the colour yellow

2. yellowish in colour or having parts or marks that are yellowish

   yellow jasmine

3. having a yellowish skin; Mongoloid

4. informal cowardly or afraid

5. offensively sensational, as a cheap newspaper (esp in the phrase yellow press )

verb

1. to make or become yellow

Sensitive Note

It is perceived as insulting to use yellow to describe a person of Asian or mixed racial origin, as in the terms yellow peril and high yellow.

Other Word Forms

• yellowish adjective
• yellowly adverb
• yellowness noun
• yellowy adjective

Etymology

Origin of yellow

First recorded before 900; 1895–1900 yellow for def. 9; Middle English yelou (adjective and noun), Old English geolo, geolu (adjective); cognate with Dutch geel, German gelb, Old Norse gulr; akin to Latin helvus “pale yellow,” Persian zar “gold” ( jargon ² ( def. ) ), Sanskrit hári “brown, green, yellow”

Example Sentences

The city of Rafah is located behind the yellow line, under Israeli army control.

From Barron's

That’s seen in the chart below comparing the performance of the yellow metal next to the U.S. bond market, with fixed income traditionally viewed as a cushion for investment portfolios during turbulent times.

From MarketWatch

Then I caught a whiff of one of my undershirts, damp and stained yellow from sweat, and I began to cough.

From Literature

The yellow metal is well-positioned to shine in 2026, they say, citing factors including ballooning global debt loads, Federal Reserve policy and potential volatility shocks.

From The Wall Street Journal

The KMI Panel also considers second yellow cards which were missed, or incorrectly shown.

From BBC