Dictionary.com
definitions

yellow

[yel-oh]
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 nm.
  2. the yolk of an egg.
  3. a yellow pigment or dye.
  4. Informal. yellow light.
  5. Slang. yellow jacket(def 2).
adjective, yel·low·er, yel·low·est.
  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.
    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 yellow journalism; yellow press.
  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.

Origin of yellow

before 900; 1895–1900 for def 9; Middle English yelou (adj. and noun), Old English geolo, geolu (adj.); cognate with Dutch geel, German gelb, Latin helvus pale-yellow; akin to Old Norse gulr
Related formsyel·low·ly, adverbyel·low·ness, noun

Synonyms for yellow

9. craven, timorous, fearful.

Usage 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for yellower

sneaking, chicken, offensive, low, craven, amber, ivory, lemon, gold, blond, cream, buff, chrome, saffron, sand, bisque, deceitful, gutless, lily-livered, pusillanimous

Examples from the Web for yellower

Historical Examples of yellower

  • He was yellower than he was the other night, and he walked like he hadn't got his sea legs on.

    Cape Cod Stories

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • In the east a brighter, yellower light than the moon's began to show.

    The Shame of Motley

    Raphael Sabatini

  • And for the translucency of their yellower effects we must bring in the amber.

    The Heart of Nature

    Francis Younghusband

  • He was yellower and grayer, and he was getting testy and irascible.

    On the Stairs

    Henry B. Fuller

  • The little beetle at her feet was busied in a yellower soil than sand.

British Dictionary definitions for yellower

yellow

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 coloursRelated adjective: xanthous
  2. a pigment or dye of or producing these colours
  3. yellow cloth or clothingdressed 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
adjective
  1. of the colour yellow
  2. yellowish in colour or having parts or marks that are yellowishyellow 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
See also yellows
Derived Formsyellowish, adjectiveyellowly, adverbyellowness, nounyellowy, adjective

Word Origin for yellow

Old English geolu; related to Old Saxon, Old High German gelo, Old Norse gulr, Latin helvus
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 yellower

yellow

v.

"to become yellow," Old English geoluwian, from the source of yellow (adj.). Related: Yellowed; yellowing.

yellow

adj.

Old English geolu, geolwe, from Proto-Germanic *gelwaz (cf. Old Saxon, Old High German gelo, Middle Dutch ghele, Dutch geel, Middle High German gel, German gelb, Old Norse gulr, Swedish gul "yellow"), from PIE *ghel- "yellow, green" (see Chloe).

Meaning "light-skinned" (of blacks) first recorded 1808. Applied to Asiatics since 1787, though the first recorded reference is to Turkish words for inhabitants of India. Yellow peril translates German die gelbe gefahr. Sense of "cowardly" is 1856, of unknown origin; the color was traditionally associated rather with treachery. Yellow-bellied "cowardly" is from 1924, probably a rhyming reduplication of yellow; earlier yellow-belly was a sailor's name for a half-caste (1867) and a Texas term for Mexican soldiers (1842, based on the color of their uniforms). Yellow dog "mongrel" is attested from c.1770; slang sense of "contemptible person" first recorded 1881. Yellow fever attested from 1748, American English (jaundice is a symptom).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper