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Gray vs. Grey: What is the Difference? | Merriam-Webster
Gray vs. Grey: What is the Difference? | Merriam-Webster
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Est. 1828
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'Gray' vs. 'Grey': What is the Difference?
When it comes to spelling, it’s not all black and white.
What to Know
Gray and grey are both common spellings of the color between black and white. Gray is more frequent in American English, whereas grey is more common in British English. The varying usage of both grey and gray extends to specialized terms such as animal species (gray/grey whale) and scientific terms (gray/grey matter). Greyhound is an exception, which has a different derivation than the color.
It's all a bit... cloudy.
The color known to fall in the range between black and white can be spelled gray or grey. This is one of the most frequently queried words in English when it comes to spelling, because both spellings are common enough to seem familiar. Of the two, gray occurs more frequently in American English, while grey has historically been the spelling preferred by British English publications. It derives from the Old English grǣg.
“Fifteen-year-old Jo … had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, gray eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful.”
— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, 1868-9
He was a tall, lean man of fifty, with a drooping moustache and grey hair.
— W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, 1919
'Grey' vs. 'Gray' Beyond Color
The variance in spelling carries over to animal names and other specialized terms that use the word, such as gray/grey whale, gray/grey squirrel, or the slang term gray/grey matter for the brain.
Despite the American preference for gray, the spelling grey retains a healthy presence in a lot of cultural references known to Americans, such as Grey Poupon mustard and Grey Goose vodka, both of which originated in France. The titles Grey’s Anatomy (a TV drama) and Fifty Shades of Grey (an erotic novel series by a British writer, E. L. James) have those spellings because they play on the names of characters named Grey in those works.
The slender breed of dog known for its racing abilities is called a greyhound, and it is consistently spelled that way. But the name's etymology does not pin that grey on its color; it derives from an Old English word, grīghund, the first part of which is distinct from grǣg and has been linked to a Norse word for a female dog.
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Gray Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Gray Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
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Est. 1828
Dictionary
Definition
adjective
noun (1)
verb
noun (2)
adjective
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adjective
noun (1)
verb
noun (2)
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gray
1 of 4
adjective
ˈgrā
variants
or less commonly grey
Synonyms of gray
1
a
: of the color gray
b
: tending toward gray
blue-gray eyes
c
: dull in color
2
: having the hair gray : hoary
3
: clothed in gray
4
a
: lacking cheer or brightness in mood, outlook, style, or flavor
also
: dismal, gloomy
a gray day
b
: prosaically ordinary : dull, uninteresting
the boring, gray dullness of government—P. J. O'Rourke
5
: having an intermediate and often vaguely defined position, condition, or character
an ethically gray area
grayly
adverb
grayness
noun
gray
2 of 4
noun (1)
variants
or less commonly grey
1
: any of a series of neutral colors ranging between black and white
2
: something (such as an animal, garment, cloth, or spot) of a gray color
3
a
: a soldier in the Confederate army during the American Civil War
b
often capitalized
: the Confederate army
gray
3 of 4
verb
variants
or less commonly grey
grayed also greyed; graying also greying; grays also greys
intransitive verb
1
: to become gray
2
: age
also
: to contain an increasing percentage of older people
The town's population has grayed over the last two decades.
transitive verb
: to make gray
gray
4 of 4
noun (2)
: the mks unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material
—abbreviation Gy
Synonyms
Adjective
argentine
grayish
leaden
pewter
silver
silvery
slate
slaty
slatey
steely
See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus
Examples of gray in a Sentence
Adjective
What will you do when you are old and gray?
My friends have all gone gray.
It was a gray winter day.
the gray faces of the people in the crowd
Recent Examples on the WebAdjective
Any hair can turn gray, and that goes for pubic hair, too.
—Tracee Cornforth, Verywell Health, 1 Mar. 2024
This very bright, colorful, prismatic, mercurial character is dropped down in the middle of the black and white and gray world of New York City police procedurals.
—Adam B. Vary, Variety, 1 Mar. 2024
Available in gray, black, and even a deep burgundy, these sleek shoes can be paired with anything from jeans to trousers, creating a multitude of wearing opportunities, thus becoming one of the most versatile shoes in your travel wardrobe.
—Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 29 Feb. 2024
But Dubai is clearly sensitive to financial pressure, as evidenced by its full-court press to get off the FATF and EU gray lists.
—John Prendergast, Foreign Affairs, 27 Feb. 2024
By contrast, the woman’s early childhood years are dismal shades of gray — near-poverty, arguments between her parents, exotic locales only pins in maps.
—Paula L. Woods, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
Montgomery, who is wearing a gray jacket, was captured in the video setting her folio on the top of the parent’s car and administering blows to the baby’s back.
—Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 27 Feb. 2024
The presence of these two genetic variants can predict gray plumage coloration in tawny owls with an accuracy of 70-100%.
—Grrlscientist, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
Perhaps more significant, in the west, regions of gray cloud appeared.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 17 Feb. 2024
Noun
The afternoon seemed drab under its gray blanket of clouds, streaked by lower clouds of even darker gray.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2024
Looking for a gray like Gabrielle Union's to give it a try yourself?
—Marci Robin, Allure, 1 Mar. 2024
The oversized top has generous length, too, and comes in more than 40 colors and patterns, from solid gray to red-and-black lumberjack plaid.
—Kristine Solomon, Travel + Leisure, 26 Feb. 2024
One, Rachel, an African gray, was supposedly quite talkative.
—Ed Shanahan, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2024
Lots of grays and steel blues that lift your eyes skyward, with a hint of nature every now and then that brings you back down to Earth.
—José Criales-Unzueta, Vogue, 15 Feb. 2024
The picture included an acid-wash gray Led Zeppelin shirt and a black Ozzy Osbourne T-shirt, placed next to each other.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 1 Feb. 2024
The show is meant to represent and be about the gray between two pillars.
—Erik Piepenburg, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2024
In a June 2023 press release, Zillow reported that moodier colors—charcoal gray, in particular—was linked to higher home sale prices.
—Blake Bakkila, Sunset Magazine, 15 Feb. 2024
Verb
The only obvious difference between the two Ioniq 6 cars was that the one with less efficiency wore shiny paint versus the matte gray better-performing one.
—Evan Williams, Ars Technica, 15 Aug. 2023
One assailant, wearing black gloves and a graying black beard, stood on a third-floor apartment balcony and, as deputies came closer, threw a Molotov cocktail at two white cars parked below.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2024
During his hospital stay, Loyola had graying fingertips, swelling and excruciating pain that would wake him up at night, the complaint claims.
—Samira Asma-Sadeque, Peoplemag, 8 Feb. 2024
Polland, who has a cascade of graying hair, explained why he was chosen for the honor.
—Ismail Ibrahim, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024
Epstein's 1993 passport application shows his hair graying and his fortunes improving.
—James Hill, ABC News, 15 Jan. 2024
And the Chucks go from maroon low-tops to gray high-tops.
—Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, 2 Aug. 2023
Davis appeared in Clark County Court Thursday with a graying beard and in a blue jail jumpsuit and shackles.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 19 Oct. 2023
In a video on her YouTube channel, Kempton sits in her Carmel Valley, Calif., home, talking in a stream about her ardent striving for self-knowledge, a striking woman with graying hair and twinkling eyes.
—Sasha Weiss, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gray.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective, Noun (1), and Verb
Middle English, from Old English grǣg; akin to Old High German grīs, grāo gray
Noun (2)
Louis H. Gray †1965 British radiobiologist
First Known Use
Adjective
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2 Verb
14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense Noun (2)
1975, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of gray was
before the 12th century
See more words from the same century
Phrases Containing gray
gray literature
gray scale
pearl gray
gray wolf
gray whale
gray area
African gray
gray birch
gray market
gray eminence
gray rat snake
gray squirrel
gray fox
gray matter
gray water
slate gray
gray rabbitbrush
iron gray
gray out
See More
Articles Related to gray
'Gray' vs. 'Grey': What is the...
When it comes to spelling, it’s not all black and white.
Dictionary Entries Near gray
grawlix
gray
Gray
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Merriam-Webster
“Gray.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gray. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.
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Kids Definition
gray
1 of 2
adjective
variants
also grey
ˈgrā
1
: of the color gray
also
: dull in color
2
: having gray hair
3
: lacking cheer or brightness : dismal
a gray day
grayness
noun
gray
2 of 2
noun
variants
also grey
1
: one of the series of neutral colors ranging between black and white
2
: something gray
gray
verb
grayish
ˈgrā-ish
adjective
Medical Definition
gray
1 of 2
noun
variants
or chiefly British grey
ˈgrā
: any of a series of neutral colors ranging between black and white
gray
adjective
or chiefly British grey
gray
2 of 2
noun
ˈgrā
: the mks unit of absorbed dose of ionizing radiation equal to an energy of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material
—abbreviation Gy
Biographical Definition
Gray
1 of 2
biographical name (1)
ˈgrā
Asa 1810–1888 American botanist
Gray
2 of 2
biographical name (2)
Thomas 1716–1771 English poet
More from Merriam-Webster on gray
Nglish: Translation of gray for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of gray for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about gray
Last Updated:
4 Mar 2024
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Gray or Grey? It Depends on Where You Live | Grammarly
Gray or Grey? It Depends on Where You Live | Grammarly
Grammarly HomeProductLearnFeaturesProduct DemoTrust & SecurityDownloadDesktopMobileBrowserWorkBy Team SizeEnterpriseTeams & BusinessesIndividualsBy Team FunctionCustomer SupportMarketingITSalesHREducationStudentsInstitutionsPricingResourcesLearnBlogCustomer StoriesBusiness Events & ReportsEducation Events & ReportsSupport CenterToolsAI Writing ToolsGrammar CheckerPlagiarism CheckerParaphrasing ToolContact SalesLog inGet GrammarlyIt's freeGrammarly HomeProductLearnFeaturesProduct DemoTrust & SecurityDownloadDesktopMobileBrowserWorkBy Team SizeEnterpriseTeams & BusinessesIndividualsBy Team FunctionCustomer SupportMarketingITSalesHREducationStudentsInstitutionsPricingResourcesLearnBlogCustomer StoriesBusiness Events & ReportsEducation Events & ReportsSupport CenterToolsAI Writing ToolsGrammar CheckerPlagiarism CheckerParaphrasing ToolGet GrammarlyIt's freeContact SalesLog inGrammarly Blog HomeWritingWriting TipsGrammarStudentsProfessionalsLifestyleProductCompanyGrammarly HomeWritingWriting TipsGrammarStudentsProfessionalsLifestyleProductCompanyGet GrammarlyIt's freeContact SalesLog inHow Do You Spell the Color Gray?Marko TicakUpdated on December 16, 2020GrammarAs a noun, gray usually refers to the color. It can be used as an adjective when we want to say that the color of something is a shade of gray. It can also be used as a verb, for when something grays (i.e., turns gray, such as hair). But regardless of its use, you’ll sometimes find that gray is not spelled the way you think it should be. So, what’s behind the grey/gray dilemma, and is there any difference between them, besides the obvious?
Grey and gray are two different spellings of the same word. Gray is more common in the U.S., while grey is more common in other English-speaking countries. In proper names—like Earl Grey tea and the unit Gray, among others—the spelling stays the same, and they need to be memorized.
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Gray vs. grey—where does the difference come from?
Does your vowel choice really make a lot of difference in the case of the color gray? It doesn’t.
Here’s a tip: The spelling doesn’t affect the meanings, and both spellings are perfectly fine. However, be sure to use the style appropriate for your geography.
The pronunciation remains the same regardless of the spelling you’re using. In fact, both spellings have the exact same origin.
Both gray and grey come from the Old English word grǽg. Over time, many different spellings of the word developed. The Middle English poem “The Owl and the Nightingale,” which was written in the twelfth or thirteenth century, uses the spelling “greie.” The fourteenth-century translation of the French poem “Roman de la Rose” uses the spelling “greye.” “Graye” can be found in the poem “Piers Plowman” written by William Langland in the second half of the fourteenth century. Examples of the spellings we use today can also be found in Middle English literature.
By the eighteenth century, “grey” had become the more common spelling, even though the legendary lexicographer Samuel Johnson thought that “gray” was a better version. In the nineteenth century, English dictionaries followed Johnson’s cue and prescribed “gray” as the correct version, but to no avail. By the twentieth century, “grey” had become the accepted spelling everywhere except in the United States.
Here’s a tip: Gray is more common in the United States, and grey is more common in the rest of the English-speaking world.
So, you can write:
The thing that stuck with me from the time I spent in London was the gray sky.
But you can also write:
The thing that stuck with me from the time I spent in London was the grey sky.
We use gray/grey as a verb when we want to say that something is becoming gray/grey. Because gray/grey hair is usually associated with aging, we sometimes mention it as a way to show that someone is getting older:
John’s hair started to gray/grey
long before he retired.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re using the word gray as a noun, adjective, or a verb. You can say that someone’s hair has grayed over a couple of months, but you can also say that it greyed. Things can be greyish, but they can also be grayish.
Grey and gray—are they interchangeable?
In common usage, there’s no difference between the words grey and gray. Some people might believe each spelling refers to a different shade of gray, and it’s quite possible you’ll see this in practice when looking at color swatches.
But there are a couple of cases where you really should mind the vowels. One of those cases is greyhound, the dog breed. It should always be spelled with an e, not an a. It’s the other way around for the grayling, a species of fish with a name that’s always spelled with an a.
If Grey is someone’s last name, you obviously shouldn’t change it to Gray to match the way you think it should be spelled. Proper nouns are off limits—the vowels in them cannot be changed. And neither can the vowel in Gray, the unit for food irradiation—it’s always spelled with an a.
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GRAY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
GRAY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
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English (UK)
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English
Meaning of gray in English
grayadjective, noun [ C or U ], verb [ I ] uk
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/ɡreɪ/ us
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/ɡreɪ/
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US spelling of
grey
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Black, white & grey
blackness
coaly
dove grey
dusty
ebony
greyish
greyly
greyness
gunmetal grey
inky
jet black
lily-white
pearl
pearly
pitch darkness
pitchy
sable
snow white
sombrely
sooty
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Hair colour
Describing bad weather
Tedious and uninspiring
Miscellaneous units of measurement
Describing people who are old
graynoun uk
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/ɡreɪ/ us
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/ɡreɪ/
[ C ]
medical
specialized a unit of measurement for absorbed radiation
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Miscellaneous units of measurement
acre
acreage
caloric
denier
dioptre
farad
fathom
firkin
flashpoint
joule
kHz
newton
radian
refractive index
röntgen
Scoville scale
SI unit
sievert
sun protection factor
watt
See more results »
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
gray | American Dictionary
grayadjective, noun [ C/U ] (esp. Cdn Br grey) us
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/ɡreɪ/
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(of) the color that is a mixture of black and white, the color of clouds when it rains: a gray coat [ U ] She was dressed in gray.
Hair that has changed color to gray: He’s already beginning to turn gray.
If the weather is gray, there are a lot of clouds in the sky.
A gray area is an unclear situation, usually because the rules that relate to it are not known: Criminal negligence is a gray area.
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
gray | Business English
grayadjective US uk
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grey
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of gray
gray
In the skulls of extinct taxa, the orbit and nares are represented by dark gray shading.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The cortical gray-matter volume was evenly affected in all lobes.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Subsequently, the cavity was completely filled with gray marl up to the level of the bedrock surface.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A ship is visible on the normal horizon, while above it is the gray barrier of the hafgerdingar.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many students, particularly in primary school, volunteered this information and then randomly assigned these caps to colors or grays.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The incoming and reflected laser light is shown as light gray cones.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Without genetics, offspring would be an average of their parents, and the eventual population, uniformly gray.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In a second procedure, matched gray and green stimuli were used to define targets for rapid, high-accuracy, three-dimensional pointing movements.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
An intuitive way to see this is to consider the color categories reported for the gray samples.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The control stimulus (thick gray line) had five peaks (numbered 1-5), corresponding to its five preferred movements.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
One monomer of each dimer in the heterotetramer is shown in gray for clarity.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Ominous forecasts about our graying population and the next recession.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The polynomial fit of the total normalized entropy with the three highest and three lowest scored sessions highlighted in darker and lighter gray, respectively.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The gray scale shown to the right is used to visualize the response magnitude as fractional change in reflection 10 4.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He noted that the red flowers seemed black, while the blue flowers seemed gray.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of gray?
A1
Translations of gray
in Chinese (Traditional)
（grey 的美式拼寫）, 格雷（放射吸收劑量國際單位）…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（grey 的美式拼写）, 格雷（放射吸收剂量国际单位）…
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in Spanish
ortografía americana de "grey":, gris, nublado…
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in Portuguese
ortografia americana de "grey":, cinza, grisalho…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Polish
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Italian
in Russian
“grey” の米国式つづり方, 灰色（はいいろ）, 灰色（はいいろ）の…
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gri, kül rengi…
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gris [masculine], gris/grise, grisonnant/-ante…
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ortografia americana de “grey”: gris…
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الهجاء الأمريكي لكَلِمةgrey…
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Grey - Wikipedia
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1Etymology
2In history and art
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2.1Antiquity through the Middle Ages
2.2Renaissance and the Baroque
2.3Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
2.4Twentieth and twenty-first centuries
3In the sciences, nature, and technology
Toggle In the sciences, nature, and technology subsection
3.1Storm clouds
3.2The greying of hair
3.3Optics
3.4Web colors
3.5Pigments
3.6Animal color
3.7Grey matter of the brain
3.8Nanotechnology and grey goo
3.9Grey noise
4In culture
Toggle In culture subsection
4.1Religion
4.2Politics
4.3Military
4.4The grey suit
4.5Sports
4.6Gay culture
5Associations and symbolism
6See also
7References
8Bibliography
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Grey
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Intermediate color between black and white
For other uses, see Grey (disambiguation).
"Gray" redirects here. For the unit, see Gray (unit).
Look up grey or gray in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Grey/Gray Color coordinatesHex triplet#808080sRGBB (r, g, b)(128, 128, 128)HSV (h, s, v)(0°, 0%, 50%)CIELChuv (L, C, h)(54, 0, 0°)SourceHTML/CSS[1]B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)
Grey (more common in Commonwealth English) or gray (more common in American English)[2] is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed of black and white.[3] It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash, and of lead.[4]
The first recorded use of grey as a color name in the English language was in 700 CE.[5] Grey is the dominant spelling in European and Commonwealth English, while gray is more common in American English; however, both spellings are valid in both varieties of English.[6]
In Europe and North America, surveys show that grey is the color most commonly associated with neutrality, conformity, boredom, uncertainty, old age, indifference, and modesty. Only one percent of respondents chose it as their favorite color.[7]
Etymology[edit]
Grey comes from the Middle English grai or grei, from the Old English grǣġ, and is related to the Dutch grauw and German grau.[8] There are no certain cognates outside Germanic languages; terms such as Spanish gris and Italian grigio are considered Germanic loanwords from Medieval Latin griseus.[9] The first recorded use of grey as a color name in the English language was in 700 AD.[5]
The distinction between grey and gray spellings in usual Commonwealth and American English respectively developed in the c. 20th century.[9]
In history and art[edit]
Antiquity through the Middle Ages[edit]
In antiquity and the Middle Ages, grey was the color of undyed wool, and thus was the color most commonly worn by peasants and the poor. It was also the color worn by Cistercian monks and friars of the Franciscan and Capuchin orders as a symbol of their vows of humility and poverty. Franciscan friars in England and Scotland were commonly known as the grey friars, and that name is now attached to many places in Great Britain.
Renaissance and the Baroque[edit]
During the Renaissance and the Baroque, grey began to play an important role in fashion and art. Black became the most popular color of the nobility, particularly in Italy, France, and Spain, and grey and white were harmonious with it.
Grey was also frequently used for the drawing of oil paintings, a technique called grisaille. The painting would first be composed in grey and white, and then the colors, made with thin transparent glazes, would be added on top. The grisaille beneath would provide the shading, visible through the layers of color. Sometimes, the grisaille was simply left uncovered, giving the appearance of carved stone.
Grey was a particularly good background color for gold and for skin tones. It became the most common background for the portraits of Rembrandt van Rijn and for many of the paintings of El Greco, who used it to highlight the faces and costumes of the central figures. The palette of Rembrandt was composed almost entirely of somber colors. He composed his warm greys out of black pigments made from charcoal or burnt animal bones, mixed with lead white or a white made of lime, which he warmed with a little red lake color from cochineal or madder. In one painting, the portrait of Margaretha de Geer (1661), one part of a grey wall in the background is painted with a layer of dark brown over a layer of orange, red, and yellow earths, mixed with ivory black and some lead white. Over this he put an additional layer of glaze made of mixture of blue smalt, red ochre, and yellow lake. Using these ingredients and many others, he made greys which had, according to art historian Philip Ball, "an incredible subtlety of pigmentation".[10] The warm, dark and rich greys and browns served to emphasize the golden light on the faces in the paintings.
Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries[edit]
Grey became a highly fashionable color in the 18th century, both for women's dresses and for men's waistcoats and coats. It looked particularly luminous coloring the silk and satin fabrics worn by the nobility and wealthy.
Brazilian princesses Leopoldina and Isabel (seated) wearing grey gowns, c. 1855
Women's fashion in the 19th century was dominated by Paris, while men's fashion was set by London. The grey business suit appeared in the mid-19th century in London; light grey in summer, dark grey in winter; replacing the more colorful palette of men's clothing early in the century.
The clothing of women working in the factories and workshops of Paris in the 19th century was usually grey. This gave them the name of grisettes. "Gris" or grey also meant drunk, and the name "grisette" was also given to the lower class of Parisian prostitutes.
Grey also became a common color for military uniforms; in an age of rifles with longer range, soldiers in grey were less visible as targets than those in blue or red. Grey was the color of the uniforms of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and of the Prussian Army for active service wear from 1910 onwards.
Several artists of the mid-19th century used tones of grey to create memorable paintings; Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot used tones of green-grey and blue grey to give harmony to his landscapes, and James McNeill Whistler created a special grey for the background of the portrait of his mother, and for his own self-portrait.
Whistler's arrangement of tones of grey had an effect on the world of music, on the French composer Claude Debussy. In 1894, Debussy wrote to violinist Eugène Ysaÿe describing his Nocturnes as "an experiment in the combinations that can be obtained from one color – what a study in grey would be in painting".[11]
Twentieth and twenty-first centuries[edit]
In the late 1930s, grey became a symbol of industrialization and war. It was the dominant color of Pablo Picasso's celebrated painting about the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Guernica.[12]
After the war, the grey business suit became a metaphor for uniformity of thought, popularized in such books as The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955), which became a successful film in 1956.[13]
In the sciences, nature, and technology[edit]
Storm clouds[edit]
Storm clouds towards Clare Island, Ireland
The whiteness or darkness of clouds is a function of their depth. Small, fluffy white clouds in summer look white because the sunlight is being scattered by the tiny water droplets they contain, and that white light comes to the viewer's eye. However, as clouds become larger and thicker, the white light cannot penetrate through the cloud, and is reflected off the top. Clouds look darkest grey during thunderstorms, when they can be as much as 20,000 to 30,000 feet high.
Stratiform clouds are a layer of clouds that covers the entire sky, and which have a depth of between a few hundred to a few thousand feet thick. The thicker the clouds, the darker they appear from below, because little of the sunlight is able to pass through. From above, in an airplane, the same clouds look perfectly white, but from the ground the sky looks gloomy and grey.[14]
The greying of hair[edit]
French politician Christine LagardeCanadian actor Donald Sutherland
The color of a person's hair is created by the pigment melanin, found in the core of each hair. Melanin is also responsible for the color of the skin and of the eyes. There are only two types of pigment: dark (eumelanin) or light (phaeomelanin). Combined in various combinations, these pigments create all natural hair colors.
Melanin itself is the product of a specialized cell, the melanocyte, which is found in each hair follicle, from which the hair grows. As hair grows, the melanocyte injects melanin into the hair cells, which contain the protein keratin and which makes up our hair, skin, and nails. As long as the melanocytes continue injecting melanin into the hair cells, the hair retains its original color. At a certain age, however, which varies from person to person, the amount of melanin injected is reduced and eventually stops. The hair, without pigment, turns grey and eventually white. The reason for this decline of production of melanocytes is uncertain. In the February 2005 issue of Science, a team of Harvard scientists suggested that the cause was the failure of the melanocyte stem cells to maintain the production of the essential pigments, due to age or genetic factors, after a certain period of time. For some people, the breakdown comes in their twenties; for others, many years later.[15] According to the site of the magazine Scientific American, "Generally speaking, among Caucasians 50 percent are 50 percent grey by age 50."[16] Adult male gorillas also develop silver hair, but only on their backs – see Physical characteristics of gorillas.
Optics[edit]
Over the centuries, artists have traditionally created grey by mixing black and white in various proportions. They added a little red to make a warmer grey, or a little blue for a cooler grey. Artists could also make a grey by mixing two complementary colors, such as orange and blue.
Today the grey on televisions, computer displays, and telephones is usually created using the RGB color model. Red, green, and blue light combined at full intensity on the black screen makes white; by lowering the intensity, it is possible to create shades of grey.
In printing, grey is usually obtained with the CMYK color model, using cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Grey is produced either by using black and white, or by combining equal amounts of cyan, magenta, and yellow. Most greys have a cool or warm cast to them, as the human eye can detect even a minute amount of color saturation. Yellow, orange, and red create a "warm grey". Green, blue, and violet create a "cool grey".[17] When no color is added, the color is "neutral grey", "achromatic grey", or simply "grey". Images consisting wholly of black, white and greys are called monochrome, black-and-white, or greyscale.
Warm grey
Cool grey
Mixed with 6% yellow.
Mixed with 6% blue.
RGB model
Grey values result when r = g = b, for the color (r, g, b)
CMYK model
Grey values are produced by c = m = y = 0, for the color (c, m, y, k). Lightness is adjusted by varying k. In theory, any mixture where c = m = y is neutral, but in practice such mixtures are often a muddy brown.
HSL and HSV model
Achromatic greys have no hue, so the h code is marked as "undefined" using a dash: --; greys also result whenever s is 0 or undefined, as is the case when v is 0 or l is 0 or 1
HTML Color Name
Sample
Hex triplet
(rendered by name)
(rendered by hex triplet)
gainsboro
#DCDCDC
lightgray
#D3D3D3
silver
#C0C0C0
darkgray
#A9A9A9
gray
#808080
dimgray
#696969
lightslategray
#778899
slategray
#708090
darkslategray
#2F4F4F
Web colors[edit]
There are several tones of grey available for use with HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as named colors, while 254 true greys are available by specification of a hex triplet for the RGB value. All are spelled gray, using the spelling grey can cause errors. This spelling was inherited from the X11 color list. Internet Explorer's Trident browser engine does not recognize grey and renders it green. Another anomaly is that gray is in fact much darker than the X11 color marked darkgray; this is because of a conflict with the original HTML gray and the X11 gray, which is closer to HTML's silver. The three slategray colors are not themselves on the greyscale, but are slightly saturated toward cyan (green + blue). Since there are an even (256, including black and white) number of unsaturated tones of grey, there are two grey tones straddling the midpoint in the 8-bit greyscale. The color name gray has been assigned the lighter of the two shades (128, also known as #808080), due to rounding up.
Pigments[edit]
Until the 19th century, artists traditionally created grey by simply combining black and white. Rembrandt Van Rijn, for instance, usually used lead white and either carbon black or ivory black, along with touches of either blues or reds to cool or warm the grey.
In the early 19th century, a new grey, Payne's grey, appeared on the market. Payne's grey is a dark blue-grey, a mixture of ultramarine and black or of ultramarine and sienna. It is named after William Payne, a British artist who painted watercolors in the late 18th century. The first recorded use of Payne's grey as a color name in English was in 1835.[18]
Animal color[edit]
Grey is a very common color for animals, birds, and fish, ranging in size from whales to mice. It provides a natural camouflage and allows them to blend with their surroundings.
Grey matter of the brain[edit]
The substance that composes the brain is sometimes referred to as grey matter, or "the little grey cells", so the color grey is associated with things intellectual. However, the living human brain is actually pink in color; it only turns grey when dead.
Nanotechnology and grey goo[edit]
Grey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario, also known as ecophagy: out-of-control self-replicating nanobots consume all living matter on Earth while building more of themselves.[19]
Grey noise[edit]
In sound engineering, grey noise is random noise subjected to an equal-loudness contour, such as an inverted A-weighting curve, over a given range of frequencies, giving the listener the perception that it is equally loud at all frequencies.
In culture[edit]
Religion[edit]
In the Christian religion, grey is the color of ashes, and so a biblical symbol of mourning and repentance, described as sackcloth and ashes. It can be used during Lent or on special days of fasting and prayer. As the color of humility and modesty, grey is worn by friars of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and Franciscan order as well as monks of the Cistercian order.[20] Grey cassocks are worn by clergy of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.
Buddhist monks and priests in Japan and Korea will often wear a sleeved grey, brown, or black outer robe.
Taoist priests in China also often wear grey.
Politics[edit]
Grey is rarely used as a color by political parties, largely because of its common association with conformity, boredom and indecision. An example of a political party using grey as a color are the German Grey Panthers.
The term "grey power" or "the grey vote" is sometimes used to describe the influence of older voters as a voting bloc. In the United States, older people are more likely to vote, and usually vote to protect certain social benefits, such as Social Security.[21][22]
Greys is a term sometimes used pejoratively by environmentalists in the green movement to describe those who oppose environmental measures and supposedly prefer the grey of concrete and cement.
Military[edit]
During the American Civil War, the soldiers of the Confederate Army wore grey uniforms. At the beginning of the war, the armies of the North and of the South had very similar uniforms; some Confederate units wore blue, and some Union units wore grey. There naturally was confusion, and sometimes soldiers fired by mistake at soldiers of their own army. On June 6, 1861, the Confederate government issued regulations standardizing the army uniform and establishing cadet grey as the uniform color. This was (and still is) the color of the uniform of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, which produced many officers for the Confederacy.
The new uniforms were designed by Nicola Marschall, a German-American artist, who also designed the original Confederate flag. He closely followed the design of contemporary French and Austrian military uniforms.[23] Grey was not chosen for its camouflage value; this benefit was not appreciated for several more decades. The South lacked a major dye industry, though, and grey dyes were inexpensive and easy to manufacture. While some units had uniforms colored with good-quality dyes, which were a solid bluish-grey, others had uniforms colored with vegetable dyes made from sumac or logwood, which quickly faded in sunshine to the yellowish color of butternut squash.
The German Army wore grey uniforms from 1907 until 1945, during both the First World War and Second World War. The color chosen was a grey-green called field grey (German: feldgrau). It was chosen because it was less visible at a distance than the previous German uniforms, which were Prussian blue. It was one of the first uniform colors to be chosen for its camouflage value, important in the new age of smokeless powder and more accurate rifles and machine guns. It gave the Germans a distinct advantage at the beginning of the First World War, when the French soldiers were dressed in blue jackets and red trousers. The Finnish Army also began using grey uniforms on the German model.
Some of the more recent uniforms of the German Army and East German Army were field grey, as were some uniforms of the Swedish army. The formal dress (M/83) of the Finnish Army is grey. The Army of Chile wears field grey today.
The grey suit[edit]
During the 19th century, women's fashions were largely dictated by Paris, while London set fashions for men. The intent of a business suit was above all to show seriousness, and to show one's position in business and society. Over the course of the century, bright colors disappeared from men's fashion, and were largely replaced by a black or dark charcoal grey frock coat in winter, and lighter greys in summer. In the early 20th century, the frock coat was gradually replaced by the lounge suit, a less formal version of evening dress, which was also usually black or charcoal grey. In the 1930s the English suit style was called the drape suit, with wide shoulders and a nipped waist, usually dark or light grey. After World War II, the style changed to a slimmer fit called the continental cut, but the color remained grey.[24]
Sports[edit]
In baseball, grey is the color typically used for road uniforms. This came about because in the 19th and early 20th century, away teams did not normally have access to laundry facilities on the road, thus stains were not noticeable on the darker grey uniforms as opposed to the white uniforms worn by the home team.
The Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League features steel grey as its primary color and its current alternate uniforms are steel grey.
New Caledonia national football teams have worn grey home shirts and the color is featured on its football badge.
Georgetown University's basketball teams traditionally wear grey uniforms at home.
Gay culture[edit]
In gay slang, a grey queen is a gay person who works for the financial services industry (this term originates from the fact that in the 1950s, people who worked in this profession often wore grey flannel suits).[25]
Associations and symbolism[edit]
The city of Kouvola, mostly known for its grayscale environment, in Kymenlaakso, Finland
In America and Europe, grey is one of the least popular colors; In a European survey, only one percent of men said it was their favorite color, and thirteen percent called it their least favorite color; the response from women was almost the same. According to color historian Eva Heller, "grey is too weak to be considered masculine, but too menacing to be considered a feminine color. It is neither warm nor cold, neither material or spiritual. With grey, nothing seems to be decided."[26] It also denotes undefinedness and ambiguity, as in a grey area.
Grey is the color most commonly associated in many cultures with the elderly and old age, because of the association with grey hair; it symbolizes the wisdom and dignity that come with experience and age. The New York Times is sometimes called The Grey Lady because of its long history and esteemed position in American journalism.[27]
Grey is the color most often associated in Europe and America with modesty.[26]
See also[edit]
Shades of grey
Black
Black-and-white
Eigengrau
List of colors
Vin gris (grey wine in French)
White
References[edit]
^ "W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords". Archived from the original on November 30, 2010.
^ "'Gray' vs. 'Grey': What is the Difference?", Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on 8 July 2023.
^ Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Third College Edition.
^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, 2002.
^ a b Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196
^ Osmond, Candace. "Gray or Grey – Are Both Correct?", Grammarist. Retrieved on 8 July 2023.
^ Heller, Eva, Psychologie de la Couleur, p. 224-242
^ Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, 1964.
^ a b Douglas, Harper. "gray (adj.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
^ Philip Ball (2001), Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour, pp. 214–215 (French translation).
^ Weintraub, Stanley. 2001. Whistler: a biography (New York: Da Capo Press). ISBN 978-0-306-80971-2. p. 351
^ Stefano Zuffi, (2012), Color in Art, pg. 310
^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur- effets et symboliques, pg. 236–237
^ John Hehr (October 15, 2002). "Why are some clouds white, while others are dark?". Research Frontiers – The home of Research at the University of Arkansas. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
^ "About this Reading Room | Science and Business Reading Room | Research Centers | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013.
^ "Why does hair turn gray?". Scientific American. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013.
^ "Color Palette". Archived from the original on November 5, 2019.
^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201; Colour Sample of Payne’s Grey: Page 117 Plate 47 Color Sample A9
^ "Leading nanotech experts put 'grey goo' in perspective" (Press release). Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. June 9, 2004. Archived from the original on September 6, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur- effets et symboliques, pg. 235
^ "The Bonus Years: The 'grey vote' may take the cake on Tuesday". Archived from the original on January 18, 2013.
^ "Welcome to Macmillan Education Customer Support". macmillaneducation.my.salesforce-sites.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2012.
^ "Nicola Marschall: Artist of the Deep South". Alabama Department of Archives and History. Archived from the original on August 23, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques, pg. 236
^ Rodgers, Bruce Gay Talk (The Queen's Vernacular): A Dictionary of Gay Slang New York:1972 Parragon Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam’s Sons Page 99
^ a b Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur, effets et symboliques. (Pg. 226)
^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur- effets et symboliques, pg. 234.
Bibliography[edit]
Heller, Eva (2009). Psychologie de la couleur – Effets et symboliques. Pyramyd (French translation). ISBN 978-2-35017-156-2.
Zuffi, Stefano (2012). Color in Art. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-4197-0111-5.
Gage, John (2009). La Couleur dans l'art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-2-87811-325-9.
Gottsegen, Mark (2006). The Painter's Handbook: A Complete Reference. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-3496-8.
Varichon, Anne (2000). Couleurs - pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples. Paris: Editions du Seuil. ISBN 978-2-02-084697-4.
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Gray vs. Grey: How to Choose the Right Word
Gray vs. Grey: How to Choose the Right Word
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Gray or Grey: How to Choose the Right Word
And the Rules for When Gray Is Not a Color
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English Grammar
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Table of Contents
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How to Use "Gray"
How to Use "Grey"
Examples
How to Remember the Difference
Exceptions
Why the British and American Difference?
Sources
By
Robert Longley
Robert Longley
History and Government Expert
B.S., Texas A&M University
Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning.
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Updated on June 02, 2022
"Gray" and "grey" are both correct spellings of the word for the neutral or achromatic color—a color “without color" between black and white, like a cloud-covered sky, ashes, or lead. Used for centuries, both "gray" and "grey" come from the Old English word grǽg and are related to the Dutch word grauw and the German word grau.
The main distinction between the two spellings is simply a matter of geographical custom. While both spellings are commonly used throughout the English-speaking world, the use of "gray" in the United States versus "grey" in most other nations has remained constant.
Of course, as is usually the case in things grammatical, there are certain exceptions and rules of usage for "gray" and "grey" that should be observed.
How to Use "Gray"
The spelling "gray" (with an “a”) is more common in American English. Therefore, if you are writing for an American audience, use "gray" when you mean the color.
How to Use "Grey"
In the United Kingdom and where other variants of English are used, "grey" is the preferred spelling of the color word—and has always been. But because of the widespread adoption of the American spelling in the United States, the number of instances of the British spelling in English-language texts started declining in the 1880s.
What it comes down to is that if you're writing for a British audience—or in a location that uses British spellings of words, such as Canada or Australia—you should use the U.K. spelling.
Examples
"Gray" and "grey" are flexible. For the purposes of these examples, we'll use the American "gray," but know that "grey" can take its place.
When used as a noun, it typically refers to a shade of the color itself, as in, “The walls were painted an ominous shade of gray” or "a fight between the Blue and the Gray" in the American Civil War.
As an adjective, it can describe an object or person as being without interest or character, as in, “They marched onward, as a line of gray, faceless men.”
Used as a verb, it can refer to the aging process, as in, “David’s hair began graying when he was a teenager.”
How to Remember the Difference
Though the use of "gray" and "grey" is still often confused and debated, as long as they are used in reference to the color, they can actually be used interchangeably anywhere in the English-speaking world. So, if you write, “The Queen wore a gray dress,” in London, you might be considered a rebel, simpleton, or tourist, but you would not be wrong.
A simple trick for remembering this is that gray is typically used in America, while grey is typically used in England.
Exceptions
Though you can use either "gray" or "grey" in your daily writing and get by, there are a handful of instances where they are not interchangeable. When getting specific with color, "gray" and "grey" can be used to denote different shades or hues, with "gray" being a simple mixture of black and white and "grey" containing a little blue. For example, paint chip sample cards or fabric swatches often show a range of shades using both "gray" and "grey."
Still, that is a very specific case. The following are more straightforward instances where the "a” and “e” cannot be mixed:
In proper names: If someone’s last name is “Grey,” it cannot be spelled “Gray.” For example, the popular Earl Grey tea is named after Charles Grey, the second Earl of Grey and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834.
The dog breed: The dog breed "greyhound" can never be spelled “grayhound.” The same is true for the Greyhound bus service company, which is named for the dog breed.
As a measure of energy: Last but certainly not least (especially to physicists) is the scientific measure of energy called the "gray." One gray is equal to about one joule of energy radiated by the ionization of one kilogram of matter. The gray replaced the rad as a standard measuring unit of radiation energy in 1975. One gray is equal to 100 rads, and it can only be spelled with an "a."
Why the British and American Difference?
So, why are some words like “gray” and “grey” customarily spelled differently in America than in Great Britain? Why, for example, does “color” become “colour,” “organize” become “organise,” and “liter” becomes “litre?” In most cases, Noah Webster, of Merriam-Webster dictionary fame, is to blame.
Until the 18th century, people on neither side of the Atlantic were too concerned with how words were spelled. Since only the most educated few learned to write at all, the spoken word was much more important to them than any type of “proper” spelling. In 1775, British lexicographer Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of the English Language. While the groundbreaking work took a few decades to catch on, the British eventually began working toward uniform spelling standards.
By the time Johnson’s Dictionary had gathered momentum, Americans were considering a revolt against British colonial rule. After winning their hard-fought independence, it only seemed natural that Americans should have their own spellings, too. Noah Webster led the movement. “As an independent people, our reputation abroad demands that, in all things, we should be federal; be national,” he wrote in a 1789 essay urging spelling reform, “for if we do not respect ourselves, we may be assured that other nations will not respect us.”
Webster wanted the American version to be free of the “clamor of pedantry” he thought marked the English language. In part, this required removing the “unnecessary—usually silent—letters in words such as “colour,” “catalogue,” and “programme.” Webster made these spellings “official” in 1806 when he published the first American dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.
Sources
"Gray (adj.)." Online Etymology Dictionary.
"Grey." English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford University Press.
MacDonald, Cheyenne. "The Future Is Gray for British English." Daily Mail Online. Last updated 28 July 2016.
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GRAY | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
GRAY | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
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Meaning of gray in English
grayadjective US (mainly UK grey) us
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/ɡreɪ/ uk
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/ɡreɪ/
gray adjective
(COLOR)
Add to word list
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A1 of the color that is a mixture of black and white, the color of rain clouds: a gray sky
C2 having hair that has become gray or white, usually because of age: go/turn gray He started to go/turn gray in his mid-forties.
B2 used to describe the weather when there are a lot of clouds and little light: Night turned into morning, gray and cold.
More examplesFewer examplesHe was wearing a gray coat.She had long, gray hair.The sky turned gray and it started to rain.Shrimp are gray when they're raw, and turn pink when they're cooked.We flew over the city with its serried ranks of identical gray houses.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Black, white & gray
blackness
coaly
dove gray
ebony
graying
grayish
grayly
grey
inky
lily-white
pearl
pitch black
pitch blackness
pitch darkness
pitchy
sable
snow white
virgin
whiten
whitish
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Hair color
Describing bad weather
Precipitation: clouds, dew, fog & steam
gray adjective
(BORING)
C1 boring and sad: He saw a gray future stretch ahead of him.
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
not interesting or excitingboringThat was such a boring movie I nearly fell asleep during it.excruciatingShe went over the plot of the book in excruciating detail.deadlyHis latest film was just deadly. I left after the first hour!mind-numbingThe incident was described in a mind-numbing, 400-page report so dense that no one read it.
See more results »
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Tedious and uninspiring
anonymous
banal
banally
basic
be (as) dull as ditchwater idiom
marginal
marmoreal
meh
menial
menially
staid
staidly
stale
staleness
stodgily
viewless
watch paint dry idiom
watch the clock idiom
wearisome
wearisomely
See more results »
Related word
grayness
graynoun US us
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/ɡreɪ/ uk
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/ɡreɪ/ (mainly UK grey)
A2 [ C or U ] the color that is a mixture of black and white, the color of rain clouds: She was dressed in gray.
Pinghung Chen/EyeEm/GettyImages
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Black, white & gray
blackness
coaly
dove gray
ebony
graying
grayish
grayly
grey
inky
lily-white
pearl
pitch black
pitch blackness
pitch darkness
pitchy
sable
snow white
virgin
whiten
whitish
See more results »
[ C ]
medical
specialized a unit of measurement for absorbed radiation
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Miscellaneous units of measurement
acre
acreage
caloric
denier
diopter
farad
fathom
firkin
flashpoint
joule
kHz
newton
radian
refractive index
röntgen
Scoville scale
SI unit
sievert
sun protection factor
watt
See more results »
grayverb [ I ] US (mainly UK grey) us
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/ɡreɪ/ uk
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/ɡreɪ/
gray verb [I]
(HAIR)
If a person or his or her hair grays, his or her hair becomes gray or white, usually because of age: I'm graying at the sides.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Black, white & gray
blackness
coaly
dove gray
ebony
graying
grayish
grayly
grey
inky
lily-white
pearl
pitch black
pitch blackness
pitch darkness
pitchy
sable
snow white
virgin
whiten
whitish
See more results »
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Hair color
gray verb [I]
(GET OLDER)
If a group of people is graying, it contains an increasing number of older people: Italy is graying faster than any other European country.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Describing people who are old
advanced
advancing
aged
ageless
aging
day
elderly
gaga
geriatric
gerontic
golden oldie
grand old age idiom
grey
have one foot in the grave idiom
over the hill idiom
overage
pensionable
senile
sprightliness
sprightly
See more results »
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
gray | Intermediate English
grayadjective, noun [ C/U ] (esp. Cdn Br grey) us
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/ɡreɪ/
Add to word list
Add to word list
(of) the color that is a mixture of black and white, the color of clouds when it rains: a gray coat [ U ] She was dressed in gray.
Hair that has changed color to gray: He’s already beginning to turn gray.
If the weather is gray, there are a lot of clouds in the sky.
A gray area is an unclear situation, usually because the rules that relate to it are not known: Criminal negligence is a gray area.
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
gray | Business English
grayadjective US uk
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/ɡreɪ/ us
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→
grey
(Definition of gray from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of gray
gray
People who go gray before 40 are considered prematurely gray.
From Huffington Post
As long as can be remembered, there has been a double standard about going gray.
From Huffington Post
When she first saw the quilt a few years ago, it looked gray.
From OregonLive.com
Keep in mind, there are shades of gray here.
From CBS News
It opened with a gray theater full of people with shaved heads, wearing gray jumpsuits, staring expressionlessly at a large screen.
From Slate Magazine
This is a movie about the vast gray area in which 99 percent of our politics takes place.
From Hollywood Reporter
If gray is referring to a person's mood or outlook it would suggest the lady appears unhappy rather than just "drab".
From WIRED
Consider highlights along with your natural color (including the gray), or mixing highlights with the single process.
From Huffington Post
The volume of our gray matter normally reduces as we get older and this is what the scientists found in the group of non-meditators.
From Huffington Post
So far there is no evidence the gray whale population is one the rise.
From CBS News
To a scientist, a gray wolf is just a gray wolf.
From OregonLive.com
He chose gray, but the product also comes in eight other shades, including wood tones.
From NOLA.com
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of gray?
A1
Translations of gray
in Chinese (Traditional)
（grey 的美式拼寫）, 格雷（放射吸收劑量國際單位）…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
（grey 的美式拼写）, 格雷（放射吸收剂量国际单位）…
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in Spanish
ortografía americana de "grey":, gris, nublado…
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in Portuguese
ortografia americana de "grey":, cinza, grisalho…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
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in Arabic
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in Russian
“grey” の米国式つづり方, 灰色（はいいろ）, 灰色（はいいろ）の…
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gri, kül rengi…
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gris [masculine], gris/grise, grisonnant/-ante…
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ortografia americana de “grey”: gris…
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الهجاء الأمريكي لكَلِمةgrey…
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-…
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grått [neuter], gråfarge [masculine], grå…
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“grey”의 미국식 영어 철자법: 회색…
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forma americana di “grey”…
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см. grey…
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Contents
English
Adjective
gray (COLOR)
gray (BORING)
Noun
Verb
gray (HAIR)
gray (GET OLDER)
Intermediate
Adjective, noun
Business
Adjective
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