green

See also: gréén, Green, and Green.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

green

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General Australian) enPR: grēn, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːn/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
Audio: (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
(General American, Canada) enPR: grēn, IPA^(key): /ɡɹin/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -iːn

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Germanic *grōniz

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Germanic *-į̄

Proto-West Germanic *-ī

Proto-West Germanic *grōnī

Old English grēne

Middle English grene

English green

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow.

The sense "obscene, pornographic, sexual" in the Philippines is from a calque of Spanish verde.

Adjective

green (comparative greener, superlative greenest)

Of a green hue; with a hue which is of grass or leaves.
Synonyms: verdant, vert

Antonyms: nongreen, ungreen

The former flag of Libya is fully green.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
  The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .
(figurative, of people) Sickly, unwell.
Sally looks pretty green—is she going to be sick?
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii]:
  to look so green and pale
Unripe, said of certain fruits that change color when they ripen.
Antonym: ripe
(figurative) Inexperienced.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inexperienced

John's kind of green, so take it easy on him this first week.
- 1822, [Walter Scott], Peveril of the Peak. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:
  I might be angry […] with the officious zeal which supposes that its green conceptions can instruct my grey hairs.
- 2008, Richard R. Rust, Renegade Champion: The Unlikely Rise of Fitzrada, page 91:
  He acted like a green racehorse, plunging over his jumps, tearing to the front of the field of riders.
(politics, sometimes capitalised) Islamist.
- 1999, Roxanne L. Euben, Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism‎^[2], page 6:
  In its most extreme formulation, this vision has devolved into a caricature of Islam as the "Green Peril" (green is the colour of Islam) advancing across the world stage, an image that echoes both the "Red Menace" of Cold War discourse and anti-Asian polemics about the "Yellow Peril".
- 2006, Benjamin Soares, Muslim-Christian encounters in Africa‎^[3], page 11:
  Some politicians tried to encourage this replacement of the red with a green menace.
- 2009, Douglas Little, American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945‎^[4], page 317:
  While Bill Clinton struggled during the 1990s to bring order to a chaotic world increasingly wracked by ethnic and religious conflict, critics detected signs that a new "green" threat - radical Islam - was supplanting the earlier "red threat" - international communism - that had kept every president from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan awake at night.
(figurative) Full of life and vigour; fresh and vigorous; new; recent.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:new

a green manhood

a green wound
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
  as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against […] the greenest usurpation
- 1952, Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, page 12:
  "How old was I when you first took me in a boat?"
  "Five and you were nearly a man when I brought the fish in too green and he nearly tore the boat to pieces. Can you remember?"
(figurative, of people) Naive or unaware of obvious facts.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gullible
(figurative, of people) Overcome with envy.
He was green with envy.
(figurative) Environmentally friendly.
Synonym: eco-friendly

green energy

Green New Deal
- 2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[5], volume 188, number 22, page 30:
  As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.
- 2021 May 18, Jack Ewing, Lauren Hirsch, “The Big Money Is Going Vegan”, in The New York Times‎^[6], →ISSN:
  Oatly said it hoped Blackstone’s investment would inspire other private equity firms “to steer their collective worth of $4 trillion into green investments.”
(cricket) Describing a pitch which, even if there is no visible grass, still contains a significant amount of moisture.
(dated) Of bacon or similar smallgoods: unprocessed, raw, unsmoked; not smoked or spiced.^[1]
Synonyms: raw, unprocessed, unsmoked

Antonyms: processed, smoked, spiced
(dated) Not fully roasted; half raw.
- 1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:
  We say the meat is green when half roasted.
(film, television, historical) Of film: freshly processed by the laboratory and not yet fully physically hardened.
- 1947, Theatre Catalog, volume 5, page 570:
  Following initial drying of film in a motion picture laboratory (after treatment in a hardening-fixing bath) the gelatin structure of an emulsion contracts and is permanently changed. The hardening action still continues for a time as a further small amount of residual moisture is given up. While traces of excess moisture remain, the emulsion is "green," relatively soft, […]
- 1961, American Cinematographer, volume 42, page 618:
  […] attaching pre-photographed and pre-printed footage of a focusing chart to daily film footage without taking into consideration that such film may be worn or dried out and therefore, in its plane of best focus, would not be identical to that of the green film of the daily rushes.
Of freshly cut wood or lumber that has not been dried: containing moisture and therefore relatively more flexible or springy.
That timber is still too green to be used.
- 1913, Zona Gale, “III. One for the Money”, in When I Was a Little Girl, page 43:
  The wood yard was a series of vacant lots where some mysterious person piled cords and cords of wood, which smelled sweet and green and gave out cool breaths.
(wine) High or too high in acidity.
Synonym: tart

Antonyms: cloy, sweet
(Philippines, informal) Having a sexual connotation; indecent; lewd; risqué; obscene; profane.
(particle physics) Having a color charge of green.
Antonym: antigreen
Being or relating to the green currencies of the European Union.
the green pound

the green lira
(academia) Subject to or involving a model of open access in which a published article is only available for to read for free after an embargo period.
Coordinate term: gold
- 2013 October 21, Peter Suber, “Open access: six myths to put to rest”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[7], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-06-03:
  Today most open access in medicine and biomedicine is gold, but in every other field it's mostly green.

Derived terms

English terms starting with “green”

Descendants

Bislama: grin
→ Marshallese: kūriin
Tok Pisin: grin

Translations

See green/translations § Adjective.

References

^ “unsmoked bacon used to be called green bacon, though the term is losing currency” Delia Online: Bacon, including gammon

Noun

green (countable and uncountable, plural greens)

The color of grass and leaves; a primary additive color midway between yellow and blue which is evoked by light between roughly roughly 495–570 nm.
green:

bright green :
- 2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, →ISBN, page 81:
  In a period of increasing industrialization and the palette of grey, brown, and black that came to dominate the modern city, greens provided a refreshing contrast, seemingly bringing the outdoors in.
(politics, sometimes capitalised) A member of a green party; an environmentalist.
Synonyms: environmentalist, (Australian) greenie, tree hugger, treehugger

Hyponyms: blue green, red green
- 2013, Joe Smith, What Do Greens Believe?, →ISBN, page 62:
  How have greens sought to map an ecologically and socially sustainable future for society?
(golf) A putting green, the part of a golf course near the hole.
- 1964 June 16, Arnold Palmer, quotee, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22:
  I gave him my putter earlier this year in Oklahoma City. He was having trouble on the greens and I said, ‘Here, try this.’ He did, and he’s been going great guns ever since.
- 2010, Dan Jenkins, Fairways and Greens, →ISBN, page 233:
  There are eighteen holes but I dare any visitor to find more than, say, twelve fairways and seven or eight greens.
(bowls) The surface upon which bowls is played.
Synonym: bowling green
(snooker) One of the color balls used in snooker, with a value of 3 points.
(British) a public patch of land in the middle of a settlement.
A grassy plain; a piece of ground covered with verdant herbage.
- 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
  o'er the smooth enamelled green
(chiefly in the plural) Fresh leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths.
- 1715, [Alexander] Pope, The Temple of Fame: A Vision, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 7:
  In that ſoft Seaſon vvhen deſcending Shovvers / Call forth the Greens, and vvake the riſing Flovvers; […]
Any substance or pigment of a green color.
A green light used as a signal.
- 1992, “How to Avoid the Most Embarrassing of Pilot Errors”, in Flying Magazine, volume 119, number 6, page 94:
  To the casual cockpit observer, landing-gear operation appears to be one of the most elementary tasks we have to perform. Either the switch is up and the lights are out, or it's down and there are three greens.
(uncountable, slang) Marijuana.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana
- 2003, “Soap Bar”, in The Manifesto‎^[8], performed by Goldie Looking Chain:
  You're better of smoking the green instead cause it don't blim-burn and it's better for your head.
- 2005, “Drive Slow”, in Late Registration, performed by Kanye West:
  They see me, hoes actin like they seen a king / With that mean lean, smokin on that finest Cali green
(US, slang, uncountable) Money.
(particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.
(theater, informal) Short for green room.
- 2016, Bruce Montague, The Book of Shakespearian Useless Information:
  Today, actors say off-handedly, 'See you on the green' or 'I'll be in the green room' without giving the expressions much thought. In Shakespeare's day, actors changed behind the stage in the 'tiring house', […]

Derived terms

Nouns

colors

Proper nouns

Place names which include "Green"

Related terms

Descendants

→⇒ Chinese: 果嶺／果岭 (guǒlǐng)
→ Czech: green
→ Danish: green
→ Dutch: green
→ Finnish: griini
→ German: Green
→ Marshallese: kūriin

Translations

See green/translations § Noun.

Etymology 2

From Middle English grenen, from Old English grēnian (“to become green, flourish”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōnijan, from Proto-Germanic *grōnijōną, *grōnijaną (“to become green”), from the adjective (see above).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian gräinje, German Low German grönen, German grünen, Swedish gröna, Icelandic gróna.

Verb

green (third-person singular simple present greens, present participle greening, simple past and past participle greened)

(transitive) To make (something) green, to turn (something) green.
- a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
  Great spring before greened all the year.
- 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 30:
  Out of that tub had come the day before—Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse - the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass - which had been wrung up and ironed by her mother's own hands.
To become or grow green in color.
- 1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Ancient Sage”, in Tiresias and Other Poems, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 63:
  O rosetree planted in my grief, / And growing, on her tomb, / Her dust is greening in your leaf, / Her blood is in your bloom.
- 1886, John Greenleaf Whittier, Flowers in Winter:
  by greening slope and singing flood
(transitive) To add greenspaces to (a town, etc.).
- 2000, AIA Guide to New York City, page 58:
  The newer 39-story, 1.5-million-square-foot tower occupies much of the original Shearson Garden, a larger parklet that briefly greened the construction site to be, and is remembered fondly by nearby Tribecans.
(intransitive) To become environmentally aware.
(transitive) To make (something) environmentally friendly.
- 2023 June 28, Conrad Landin, “Network News: Scottish 4.8% rail fares rise labelled 'bad news'”, in RAIL, number 986, page 18:
  "The SNP like to talk the talk about net zero targets, but they can't walk the walk. We need a fares freeze for everyone if we want to get serious about greening the economy and a public railway run in the public interest."

Synonyms

(make (something) green): engreen

Derived terms

Translations

See green/translations § Verb.

Anagrams

Egner, Geren, genre, neger, regen

Czech

Etymology

Derived from English green.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈɡriːn]

Noun

green m inan

(slang, golf) green (a putting green; the part of a golf course near the hole)

Usage notes

Although the official term for the green is jamkoviště, it is rarely used in practice. Instead, unofficial Czech versions of the English word green, variously spelled green, grýn, and grín, are used in practice.^[1]

Declension

Declension of green (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	green	greeny
genitive	greenu	greenů
dative	greenu	greenům
accusative	green	greeny
vocative	greene	greeny
locative	greenu	greenech
instrumental	greenem	greeny

References

^ “Golf Club Hradec Králové, Jan. 6, 2010”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1], 2010 January 6 (last accessed), archived from the original on 16 May 2010

Danish

Etymology

From English green.

Noun

green c (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greens, definite plural greenene)

(golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from North Germanic, from Old Norse grǫn.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɣreːn/
Hyphenation: green
Rhymes: -eːn

Noun

green m (plural grenen)

(obsolete) Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris
Synonym: grove den

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English green.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡriːn/
Hyphenation: green
Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

green m (plural greens)

(golf) green, putting green

Derived terms

greenkeeper

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡʁin/

Noun

green m (plural greens)

(golf) green

German Low German

Alternative forms

gren
(in some other dialects) gröön (grön)
(in some other dialects) greun, gräun

Etymology

From Middle Low German grōne, from Old Saxon grōni.

Adjective

green

(Low Prussian) green

Middle English

Alternative forms

gre, gree

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French greer; equivalent to gre +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɡreːən/

Verb

green (Late Middle English)

To come to an understanding or agreement.
(rare) To make a compact of reconciliation.

Conjugation

Conjugation of green (weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) green, gree
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	gree	greed
2nd-person singular	greest	greedest
3rd-person singular	greeth	greed
subjunctive singular	gree	greed
imperative singular	gree	—

plural¹	green, gree	greeden, greede
imperative plural	greeth, gree	—

participles	greynge, greende	greed, ygreed

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

English: gree (obsolete)
Scots: gree

References

“grẹ̄en, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-15.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz.

Pronunciation

(Sylt) IPA^(key): [ɡ̊reːn]

Adjective

green

(Föhr-Amrum, Sylt) green

Inflection

Inflection of green (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

	masculine		feminine / neuter	plural
	indefinite	definite	feminine / neuter	plural
positive
predicative / adverbial	green
attributive	greenen	green		green
independent	greenen	green		greenen
partitive	greens			—
comparative
predicative / adverbial	greener
attributive	greeneren	greener		greener
independent	greeneren	greener		greeneren
partitive	greeners			—
superlative
predicative / adverbial	am greensten
attributive	—	greenst		greenst
independent	—	greenst		greensten

Inflection of green (Sylt dialect)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	plural
positive
predicative / adverbial	green
attributive	green
independent	greenen	green	greenen
partitive	greens		—
comparative
predicative / adverbial	greener
attributive	greener
independent	greeneren	greener	greeneren
partitive	greeners		—
superlative
predicative / adverbial	am greensten
attributive	greenst
independent	—	greenst	greensten

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greener, definite plural greenene)

(golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

green m (definite singular greenen, indefinite plural greenar, definite plural greenane)

(golf) a green or putting green (the closely mown area surrounding each hole on a golf course)

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English green.

Noun

green n (plural greenuri)

putting green

Declension

Declension of green

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) green	greenul	(niște) greenuri	greenurile
genitive/dative	(unui) green	greenului	(unor) greenuri	greenurilor
vocative	greenule		greenurilor

References

green in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English green.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾin/ [ˈɡɾĩn]
Rhymes: -in
Syllabification: gre‧en

Noun

green m (plural greens or greenes)

(golf) green

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English green. Doublet of grön.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡriːn/
Rhymes: -iːn

Noun

green c

(golf) a green, putting green (the closely mown area around a hole on a golf course)

Declension

Declension of green

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	green	greens
singular	definite	greenen	greenens
plural	indefinite	greener	greeners
plural	definite	greenerna	greenernas

References

Anagrams

gener, genre, neger

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡɾiːn/
Homophones: gryne, gring

Adjective

green

green
- 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 10, page 88:
  Oore hart cam' t' oore mouth, an zo w' all ee green;
  Our hearts came to our mouth, and so with all in the green;

References

Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 88

Colors in Yola · [Term?] (layout · text)
whit, baun	gry	bhlock, blaak
reed	yulloureed	yullou, ghou, buee
*leem green	green	*meente
blúegreen	*asure	blúe
	purple	rowse

[1] “unsmoked bacon used to be called green bacon, though the term is losing currency” Delia Online: Bacon, including gammon

[2] “Golf Club Hradec Králové, Jan. 6, 2010”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1], 2010 January 6 (last accessed), archived from the original on 16 May 2010

[1]

[1]

Colors/Colours in English (layout · text)
red	orange	yellow	green	blue (incl. indigo; cyan, teal, turquoise)	purple / violet
pink (including magenta)	brown		white	gray/grey	black

green

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adjective

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

References

Noun

Derived terms

Nouns

Proper nouns

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams

Czech

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Declension

References

Further reading

Danish

Etymology

Noun

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

French

Pronunciation

Noun

German Low German

Alternative forms

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

Descendants

References

North Frisian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Inflection

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

References

Spanish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Further reading

Swedish