yellow

American  

[yel-oh] / ˈjɛl oʊ /

noun

yellows plural

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)

yellows, present (3rd person singular) yellowed, past participle, past yellowing present participle

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• yellows
  plural

Participles

• yellowing
  present
• yellowed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• yellow
  simple
• yellows
  simple
• have yellowed
  perfect
• has yellowed
  perfect
• am yellowing
  progressive
• are yellowing
  progressive
• is yellowing
  progressive
• have been yellowing
  perfect progressive
• has been yellowing
  perfect progressive

Past

• yellowed
  simple
• had yellowed
  perfect
• was yellowing
  progressive
• were yellowing
  progressive
• had been yellowing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will yellow
  simple
• will have yellowed
  perfect
• will be yellowing
  progressive
• will have been yellowing
  perfect progressive

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” ( see jargon ² ( def. )), Sanskrit hári “brown, green, yellow”

Explanation

Yellow is the color you'll see in a rainbow, right between orange and green. Yellow is the color of daffodils, lemons, and the traffic light that is supposed to make cars slow down. The word yellow comes from a Proto-Indo-European root word that means "to shine." Sunflowers, egg yolks, and corn on the cob all share this bright color, and if you're asked to draw a picture of the sun, you're likely to grab a yellow crayon. The informal meaning of yellow, "cowardly," has been around since the 1850s, and may have originated in a Texas slur for Mexican soldiers, whose uniforms were yellow.

Example Sentences

Dogs raised for eating were often large breeds like Nureongi, also known as the Korean Yellow Spitz.

From Barron's • Jun. 28, 2026

He said: "Yellow wellies are synonymous with the RNLI, the iconic yellow welly forms part of the crew's safety equipment both for our shore crew and boat crew with their drysuits."

From BBC • Jun. 23, 2026

Bannerman Energy and Deep Yellow are now the bank’s preferred Australian uranium picks.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

Several major deltas are experiencing especially rapid elevation loss, including those of the Mekong, Nile, Chao Phraya, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Mississippi, and Yellow rivers.

From Science Daily • Apr. 20, 2026

The next Wednesday, I jumped on a Yellow Car to get to First Methodist Church downtown.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu