Online Etymology Dictionary

yellow journalism: "sensational chauvinism in the media," 1898, Amer.Eng. from newspaper agitation for war with Spain; originally "publicity stunt use of colored ink" (1895) in ref. to the popular Yellow Kid"character (his clothes were yellow) in Richard Outcault's comic strip "Shantytown" in the "New York World."
yellow: O.E. geolu, geolwe, from P.Gmc. *gelwaz (cf. O.S., O.H.G. gelo, M.Du. ghele, Du. geel, M.H.G. gel, Ger. gelb, O.N. gulr, Swed. gul "yellow"), from PIE *ghel-/*ghol- "yellow, green" (see Chloe). The verb meaning "to become yellow" is O.E. geoluwian. Adj. 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 Ger. 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 ribbon: The American folk custom of wearing or displaying a yellow ribbon to signify solidarity with loved ones or fellow citizens at war originated during the U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Iran in 1979. It does not have a connection to the American Civil War, beyond the use of the old British folk song "Round Her Neck She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" in the John Wayne movie of the same name, with a Civil War setting, released in 1949. The story of a ribbon tied to a tree as a signal to a convict returning home that his loved ones have forgiven him is attested from 1959, but the ribbon in that case was white. The ribbon color seems to have changed to yellow first in a version retold by newspaper columnist Pete Hamill in 1971. The story was dramatized in June 1972 on ABC-TV (James Earl Jones played the ex-con). Later that year, Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown copyrighted the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," which became a pop hit in early 1973 and sparked a lawsuit by Hamill, later dropped. In 1975, the wife of a Watergate conspirator put out yellow ribbons when her husband was released from jail, and news coverage of that was noted and remembered by Penne Laingen, whose husband was U.S. ambassador to Iran in 1979 and one of the Iran hostages taken in the embassy on Nov. 4. Her yellow ribbon in his honor was written up in the Dec. 10, 1979, "Washington Post." When the hostage families organized as the Family Liaison Action Group (FLAG), they took the yellow ribbon as their symbol. The ribbons revived in the 1991 Gulf War and again during the 2003 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Chloe: fem. proper name, from Gk. Khloe, lit. "young green shoot;" related to khloros "greenish-yellow," from PIE *ghlo- var. of base *ghel-, a color word that has yielded words for both "yellow" (cf. L. helvus "yellowish, bay," Gallo-L. gilvus "light bay;" Lith. geltonas "yellow;" O.C.S. zlutu, Pol. zolty, Rus. zeltyj "yellow;" Skt. harih "yellow, tawny yellow," hiranyam "gold;" Avestan zari "yellow;" O.E. geolu, geolwe, Mod. Eng. yellow, Ger. gelb "yellow") and "green" (cf. L. galbus "greenish-yellow;" Gk. khloros "greenish-yellow color," kholos "bile;" Lith. zalias "green," zelvas "greenish;" O.C.S. zelenu, Pol. zielony, Rus. zelenyj "green;" O.Ir. glass, Welsh, Breton glas "green," also "grey, blue"). Buck says the interchange of words for yellow and green is "perhaps because they were applied to vegetation like grass, cereals, etc., which changed from green to yellow." It is possible that this whole group of yellow-green words is related to PIE base *ghlei- "to shine, glitter, glow, be warm" (see gleam).
jaundice: c.1300, from O.Fr. jaunisse "yellowness" (12c.), from jaune "yellow," from L. galbinus "greenish yellow," probably from PIE *ghel- "yellow, green" (see Chloe). With intrusive -d- (cf. gender, astound, thunder). Meaning "feeling in which views are colored or distorted" first recorded 1629, from yellow's association with bitterness and envy (see yellow).
yolk: O.E. geolca, geoloca "yolk," lit. "the yellow part," from geolu "yellow" (see yellow). Formerly also spelled yelk.
xanthous: 1829, from Gk. xanthos "yellow," of unknown origin. Prefix form xantho- is used in many scientific words; cf. xanthein (1857) "soluble yellow coloring matter in flowers," Huxley's Xanthochroi (1867) "blond, light-skinned races of Europe" (with okhros "pale"), xanthophyll (1838) "yellow coloring matter in autumn leaves."
Flavius: male proper name, from L. Flavius, a Roman gens name, related to flavus "yellow" (see blue), and probably originally meaning "yellow-haired."
ochre: late 14c., "type of clayey soil (much used in pigments)," from O.Fr. ocre (c.1300), from L. ochra, from Gk. ochra, from ochros "pale yellow," of unknown origin. As a color name, "brownish-yellow," it is attested from mid-15c.
amarillo: name given to several species of American trees, from Sp., from Arabic anbari "yellow, amber-colored," from anbar "amber," probably from L. amarus "bitter," "through application to some bitter (yellow) substance, such as gall" [Buck]. The city Amarillo in Texas, U.S., may be so called from the color of the banks of a nearby stream.
bay (4): "reddish-brown," mid-14c., from Anglo-Fr. bai, from O.Fr. bai, from L. badius "chestnut-brown" (used only of horses), from PIE *badyo- "yellow, brown" (cf. O.Ir. buide "yellow"). Also elliptical for a horse of this color.
gall (1): "bile," O.E. galla (Anglian), gealla (W. Saxon), from P.Gmc. *gallon- (cf. O.N. gall, O.H.G. galla), from PIE base *ghol-/*ghel- "gold, yellow, yellowish-green" (cf. Gk. khole, see cholera; L. fel; perhaps also O.E. geolo "yellow," Gk. khloros). Informal sense of "impudence, boldness" first recorded Amer.Eng. 1882; but meaning "embittered spirit, rancor" is from c.1200. Gall bladder recorded from 1670s.
electrum: "alloy of gold and silver," late 14c. (in O.E. elehtre), from L., lit. "amber," so called probably for its pale yellow color.
glass: O.E. glæs, from W.Gmc. *glasam (cf. M.Du. glas, Ger. Glas), from P.Gmc. base *gla-/*gle-, from PIE *gel-/*ghel- "to shine, glitter, be green or yellow," a color word that is the root of words for grey, blue, green, and yellow (cf. O.E. glær "amber," L. glaesum "amber," O.Ir. glass "green, blue, gray," Welsh glas "blue"). Sense of "drinking glass" is early 13c.; glasses for "spectacles" is 1660s. The glass slipper in "Cinderella" is probably an error by Charles Perrault, translating in 1697, mistaking O.Fr. voir "ermine, fur" for verre "glass." In other versions of the tale it is a fur slipper. Glass ceiling first recorded 1990.
cirrhosis: 1840s, coined by Fr. physician René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826), from Gk. kirrhos "tawny," for the orange-yellow appearance of the diseased liver.
blond (adj.): late 15c., from O.Fr. blont "fair, blond" (12c.), from M.L. adj. blundus "yellow," perhaps from Frankish *blund. If it is a Germanic word, it is possibly related to O.E. blonden-feax "gray-haired," from blondan, blandan "to mix" (see blend). According to Littré, the original sense of the French word was "a colour midway between golden and light chestnut," which might account for the notion of "mixed." O.E. beblonden meant "dyed," so it is also possible that the root meaning of blonde, if it is Germanic, may be "dyed," as ancient Teutonic warriors were noted for dying their hair. Du Cange, however, writes that blundus was a vulgar pronunciation of L. flavus "yellow." Another guess (discounted by German etymologists), is that it represents a V.L. *albundus, from alba "white." The word was reintroduced into English 17c. from French, and was until recently still felt as French, hence blonde (with Fr. fem. ending) for females. As a noun, used c.1755 of a type of lace, 1822 of persons. It. biondo, Sp. blondo, O.Prov. blon all are of Germanic origin.
buttercup: type of small wildflower with a yellow bloom, 1777, from a merger of two older names, gold-cups and butterflower.
Boyd: in many cases, the family name represents Gaelic or Irish buidhe "yellow," suggesting blond hair, cf. Manx name Mac Giolla Buidhe (1100).
lurid: 1656, from L. luridus "pale yellow, ghastly," of uncertain origin, perhaps cognate with Gk. khloros (see Chloe). The figurative sense of "sensational" is first attested 1850.
Xanthippe: 1596, spouse of Socrates (5c. B.C.E.), the prototype of the quarrelsome, nagging wife. The name is related to the masc. proper name Xanthippos, a compound of xanthos "yellow" + hippos "horse."
biretta: square cap worn by Catholic clergy, 1590s, from It. beretta, from L.L. birrus, birrum "large cloak with hood;" perhaps of Gaulish origin, or from Gk. pyrros "flame-colored, yellow."
blue (1): c.1300, bleu, blwe, etc., from O.Fr. blo "pale, pallid, wan, light-colored; blond; discolored; blue, blue-gray," from Frankish *blao, from P.Gmc. *blæwaz (cf. O.E. blaw, O.S., O.H.G. blao, Dan. blaa, Swed. blå, O.Fris. blau, M.Du. bla, Du. blauw, Ger. blau "blue"), from PIE *bhle-was "light-colored, blue, blond, yellow." "The exact color to which the Gmc. term applies varies in the older dialects; M.H.G. bla is also "yellow," whereas the Scandinavian words may refer esp. to a deep, swarthy black, e.g. O.N. blamaðr, N.Icel. blamaður 'Negro' " [Buck]. Replaced O.E. blaw, from the same PIE root, which also yielded L. flavus "yellow," O.Sp. blavo "yellowish-gray," Gk. phalos "white," Welsh blawr "gray," O.N. bla "livid" (the meaning in black and blue), showing the usual slippery definition of color words in I.E. The present spelling is since 16c., from French influence (Mod.Fr. bleu).
"Few words enter more largely into the composition of slang, and colloquialisms bordering on slang, than does the word BLUE. Expressive alike of the utmost contempt, as of all that men hold dearest and love best, its manifold combinations, in ever varying shades of meaning, greet the philologist at every turn." [John S. Farmer, "Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1890, p.252]
The color of constancy since Chaucer at least, but apparently for no deeper reason than the rhyme in true blue (c.1500). From early times blue was the distinctive color of the dress of servants, which may be the reason police uniforms are blue, a tradition Farmer dates to Elizabethan times. For blue ribbon see cordon bleu under cordon. Many IE languages seem to have had a word to describe the color of the sea, encompasing blue and green and gray; e.g. Ir. glass (see Chloe); O.E. hæwen "blue, gray," related to har (see hoar); Serbo-Cr. sinji "gray-blue, sea-green;" Lith. šyvas, Rus. sivyj "gray."
natterjack: 1769, rare kind of toad with a yellow stripe on its back; second element probably proper name jack (q.v.); for first element, Weekley suggests connection with attor "poison" (cf. attercop).
luteal: 1927, "pertaining to the corpus luteum, from L. luteus "yellow." Luteal phase is attested by 1932.
tawny: "tan-colored," late 14c., from Anglo-Fr. tauné "associated with the brownish-yellow of tanned leather," from O.Fr. tané (12c.), pp. of taner "to tan hides," from M.L. tannare (see tan).
Isabel: a form of Elizabeth that seems to have developed in Provence. A popular name in Middle Ages; pet forms included Ibb, Libbe, Nibb, Tibb, Bibby, and Ellice. The Sp. form was Isabella, which is attested as a color name ("greyish-yellow") from 1600; the Isabella who gave her name to it has not been identified.
jonquil: 1629, species of narcissus, from Fr. jonquille, from Sp. junquillo, dim. of junco "rush, reed," from L. juncus "rush;" so called in reference to its leaves. The type of canary bird (1865) is so called for its pale yellow color, which is like that of the flower.
yarrow: plant, also known as milfoil, O.E. gearwe, from P.Gmc. *garwo (cf. M.Du. garwe, O.H.G. garawa, Ger. Garbe), perhaps from a source akin to the root of yellow.
off-white: "white with a tinge of gray or yellow," 1927, from off + white.
weld (n.): plant (Resedo luteola) producing yellow dye, late 14c., from O.E. *wealde, perhaps a variant of O.E. wald "forest" (cf. M.L.G. walde, M.Du. woude). Sp. gualda, Fr. gaude are Gmc. loan-words.
panther: c.1220, from O.Fr. pantere (12c.), from L. panthera, from Gk. panther, probably of Oriental origin, cf. Skt. pundarikam "tiger," probably lit. "the yellowish animal," from pandarah "whitish-yellow." Folk etymology derivation from Gk. pan- "all" + ther "beast" led to many curious fables.
oriole: 1776, from Fr. oriol, O.Prov. auriol, from L. aureolus "golden," from PIE *aus- "gold." Originally in ref. to the Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula), a bird of black and yellow plumage that summers in Europe (but is uncommon in England). Applied from 1791 to the unrelated but similarly colored Amer. species Icterus baltimore.
plumbago: "graphite," 1784, from L. plumbago "a type of lead ore, black lead," from plumbum "lead" (see plumb); it renders Gk. molybdaina, which was used of yellow lead oxide and also of a type of plant.
crocus: late 14c., from L. crocus, from Gk. krokos "saffron, crocus," probably of Semitic origin (cf. Arabic kurkum), ult. from Skt. kunkumam. The autumnal crocus (Crocus sativa) was a common source of yellow dye in Roman times, and was perhaps grown in England, where the word existed as O.E. croh, but this form of the word was forgotten by the time the plant was re-introduced in Western Europe by the Crusaders.
Goldilocks: name for a person with bright yellow hair, 1550, from adj. form of gold + lock in the hair sense. The story of the Three Bears first was printed in Robert Southey's miscellany "The Doctor" (1837), but the central figure there was a bad-tempered old woman. Southey did not claim to have invented the story, and older versions have been traced, either involving an old woman or a "silver-haired" girl (though in at least one version it is a fox who enters the house). The naming of the girl as Goldilocks is only attested from c.1904.
yew: O.E. iw, eow "yew," from P.Gmc. *iwa-/*iwo- (cf. M.Du. iwe, Du. ijf, O.H.G. iwa, Ger. Eibe, O.N. yr), from PIE *ei-wo- (cf. O.Ir. eo, Welsh ywen "yew"), perhaps a suffixed form of *ei- "reddish, motley, yellow." OED says Fr. if, Sp. iva, M.L. ivus are from Gmc. (and says Du. ijf is from Fr.); others posit a Gaul. ivos as the source of these. Lith. jeva likewise is said to be from Gmc. It symbolizes both death and immortality, being poisonous as well as long-lived.
riboflavin: 1935, from Ger. Riboflavin (1935), from ribose (q.v.) + flavin, from L. flavus "yellow" (see blue), so called from its color.
mellow: mid-15c., melwe "soft, sweet, juicy" (of ripe fruit), perhaps related to melowe, variant of mele "ground grain" (see meal (2)), influenced by M.E. merow "soft, tender," from O.E. mearu. Meaning "slightly drunk" is from 1680s. The verb is from 1570s. Related: Mellowed; mellowing. Mellow yellow "banana peel smoked to get high" is from 1967.
amber: mid-14c., "ambergris," from O.Fr. ambre, from M.L. ambar, from Arabic 'anbar "amber," a word brought home to Europe by the Crusaders. The sense was extended to fossil resin c.1400, which has become the main sense as the use of ambergris has waned. This formerly was known as white or yellow amber. In Fr., they are distinguished as ambre gris and amber jaune. Cf. also electric.
arsenic: late 14c., from O.Fr. arsenic, from L. arsenicum, from Gk. arsenikon "arsenic," adapted from Syriac (al) zarniqa "arsenic," from Middle Persian zarnik "gold-colored" (arsenic trisulphide has a lemon-yellow color). The Gk. word is folk etymology, from arsen "male, strong, virile" (cf. arseno-koites "lying with men" in N.T.) supposedly in reference to the powerful properties of the substance. The mineral (as opposed to the element) is properly orpiment, from L. auri pigmentum, so called because it was used to make golden dyes.
gullible: 1793 (implied in gullibility), earlier cullibility (1728), probably connected to gull, a cant term for "dupe, sucker" (1594), which is of uncertain origin. It is perhaps from the bird (see gull (n.)), or from verb gull "to swallow" (1530, from O.Fr. goule, from L. gula "throat," see gullet); in either case with a sense of "someone who will swallow anything thrown at him." Another possibility is M.E. dial. gull "newly hatched bird" (1382), which is perhaps from O.N. golr "yellow," from the hue of its down.
sallow (adj.): O.E. salo "dusky, dark" (related to sol "dark, dirty"), from P.Gmc. *salwa- (cf. M.Du. salu "discolored, dirty," O.H.G. salo "dirty gray," O.N. sölr "dirty yellow"), from PIE base *sal- "dirty, gray" (cf. O.C.S. slavojocije "grayish-blue color," Rus. solovoj "cream-colored").
pallor: c.1400, from O.Fr. palor "paleness," from L. pallor, from pallere "be pale," related to pallus "dark-colored, dusky," from PIE base *pel- "dark-colored, gray" (cf. Skt. palitah "gray," panduh "whitish, pale," Gk. pelios "livid," polios "gray," O.E. fealo "dull-colored, yellow, brown").
corpus: (pl. corpora), late 14c., from L., lit. "body" (see corporeal). The sense of "body of a person" (c.1440 in Eng.) and "collection of facts or things" (1727 in Eng.) were both present in L. Corpus Christi (late 14c.) Catholic feast of the Blessed Sacrament, is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Corpus delecti (1832), is L., lit. "body of the offense," not "the murder victim's body," but the basic elements that make up a crime; in the case of a murder, including the body of the murdered person. Also used in various medical phrases, e.g. corpus callosum (1706, lit. "tough body"), corpus luteum (1788, lit. "yellow body").
flesh (n.): O.E. flæsc "flesh, meat," also "near kindred" (a sense now obsolete except in phrase flesh and blood), common W. and N.Gmc. (cf. O.Fris. flesk, M.L.G. vlees, Ger. Fleisch "flesh," O.N. flesk "pork, bacon"), of unknown origin, perhaps from P.Gmc. *flaiskoz-. Figurative use for "animal or physical nature of man" (O.E.), is from the Bible, especially Paul's use of Gk. sarx, which yielded sense of "sensual appetites" (c.1200). Flesh-wound is from 1670s; flesh-color, the hue of "Caucasian" skin, is first recorded 1610s, described as a tint composed of "a light pink with a little yellow" [O'Neill, "Dyeing," 1862]. An O.E. poetry-word for "body" was flæsc-hama, lit. "flesh-home."
butterfly: O.E. buttorfleoge, perhaps based on the old notion that the insects (or witches disguised as butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered. Or, less creatively, simply because the pale yellow color of many species' wings suggests the color of butter. Another theory connects it to the color of the insect's excrement, based on Du. cognate boterschijte. A fascinating overview of words for "butterfly" in various languages can be found here. The swimming stroke so called from 1936. Butterflies "light stomach spasms caused by anxiety" is from 1908.
The butterfly effect is a deceptively simple insight extracted from a complex modern field. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, [Edward] Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. One day he changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions, from .506127 to .506. That tiny alteration utterly transformed his long-term forecast, a point Lorenz amplified in his 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" [Peter Dizikes, "The Meaning of the Butterfly," The Boston Globe, June 8, 2008]
gold: O.E. gold, from P.Gmc. *gulth- (cf. O.S., O.Fris., O.H.G. gold, Ger. Gold, M.Du. gout, Du. goud, O.N. gull, Dan. guld, Goth. gulþ), from PIE base *ghel-/*ghol- "yellow, green," possibly ult. "bright" (cf. O.C.S. zlato, Rus. zoloto, Skt. hiranyam, O.Pers. daraniya-, Avestan zaranya- "gold;" see Chloe). In reference to the color of the metal, it is recorded from c.1400. Golden replaced M.E. gilden, from O.E. gyldan. Gold is one of the few Mod.Eng. nouns that form adjs. meaning "made of ______" by adding -en (e.g. wooden, leaden, waxen, olden); O.E. also had silfren "made of silver," stænen "made of stone." Goldenrod is 1568; goldfinch is from O.E. goldfinc; goldfish is from 1698, introduced into England from China, where they are native. Gold-digger "woman who pursues men for their money," first recorded 1915. Goldbrick (n.) "shirker" (1914) is World War I armed forces slang, from earlier verb meaning "to swindle, cheat" (1902) from the old con game of selling spurious "gold" bricks. Golden mean "avoidance of excess" translates L. aurea mediocritas (Horace). Golden rule (originally Golden law) so called from 1674.
"Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." [George Bernard Shaw, 1898]