Beige

Pronunciation

• IPA: beɪʒ
• Rhymes: -eɪʒ

Origin

Borrowing from fr {{2}} dialectal beige, from Old French bege 'color of undyed wool or coton', from an Alpine language (compare Franco-Provençal bézho, Romansch besch) 'dull grey', from Vulgar Latin *bysseus 'cottony grey' (compare French bis, Catalan bis, Italian bìgio), from Late Latin byssus 'cotton', from Ancient Greek βύσσος (býssos) 'cotton homespun', from Semitic (compare Hebrew/Aramaic (būṣ))

Noun

1. A slightly yellowish gray colour, as that of unbleached wool.
2. debeige; a kind of woollen or mixed dress goods

Adjective

1. Having a slightly yellowish gray colour, as that of unbleached wool.
• 1956, w, Crime out of Mind Chapter 24, Dagobert had only one customer, an American who wore square, rimless glasses and a beige suit and looked like a Wall Street tycoon.

Derived terms

• Beige Book