Whiteとは

意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• whight, whyte, whyght (廃れた用法)
• White (race-related)

語源

From Middle English whit, hwit, from 古期英語 hwīt, from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz (whence also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱweydós, a byform of *ḱweytós (“bright; shine”). Compare Lithuanian šviẽsti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”), Old Church Slavonic свѣтъ (světŭ, “light”), свѣтьлъ (světĭlŭ, “clear, bright”), Persian سفید‎ (sefid), Avestan ������������‎ (spaēta, “white”), Sanskrit श्वेत (śvetá, “white, bright”).

発音

• enPR: wīt, IPA^(key): /waɪt/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hwīt, IPA^(key): /ʍaɪt/
• 韻: -aɪt
• 異形同音異義語: wight, Wight, wite (accents with the wine-whine merger)

形容詞

white (comparative whiter, superlative whitest)

1. Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.

   Write in black ink on white paper.

   • c. 1878, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Holidays"

     white as the whitest lily on a stream.

   • 1381, quoted in Hans Kurath & Sherman M. Kuhn, eds., Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-01044-8, page 1242 (1961):

     dorrẹ̅, dōrī adj. & n. […] cook. glazed with a yellow substance; pome(s ~, sopes ~. […] 1381 Pegge Cook. Recipes page 114: For to make Soupys dorry. Nym onyons […] Nym wyn […] toste wyte bred and do yt in dischis, and god Almande mylk.

   Antonyms: black, nonwhite, unwhite

2. (sometimes capitalized) Of or relating to Caucasians, people of European descent with light-coloured skin.
   • 1949, Wendell P. Alston, “The Green Book”, in The Negro Motorist Green Book, 1949 edition, New York: Victor H. Green, page 3:

     […] more white corporations cognizant of the mounting purchasing power of the Negro consumer, have Negro representatives in the field […].

   • 2004 May 9, Michael Joseph Gross, “When the Losers Ruled in Teenage Movies”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Ms. Ringwald finds a few things about these films regrettable. One thing she found "significantly disturbing," she wrote, "was how white the films are."

3. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.

   white drinking fountain

   white hospital

4. Relatively light or pale in colour.

   white wine

   white grapes

   white birch

5. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
   • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 22697011, (please specify |canto=I, II, III, または IV):

     Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! / They come! they come!"

6. (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.

   Synonyms: fair, pale

   Antonym: tanned

7. (of coffee または tea) Containing cream, milk, or creamer.

   Antonym: black

8. (board games, chess) The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.

   The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.

9. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter ix, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:

     NOw rydeth Galahalt yet withouten shelde / and so rode four dayes without ony aduenture / And at the fourth day after euensonge / he came to a whyte Abbay / and there was he receyued with grete reuerence / and ledde vnto a chambre / and there was he vnarmed / And thenne was he ware of knyghtes of the table round

10. Honourable, fair; decent.
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis; John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Second Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 80026745:

      White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.

    • 1737, Pope, Alexander, First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 194:

      No whiter page than Addison's remains. / He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, / And sets the passions on the side of Truth,

    • 1901, Hamlin Garland, Her Mountain Lover, page 51:

      “I’ll put you down at my club; and then, the governor will want to see you in the country.” / Jim had no idea of what was involved in being put down at a club, but he consented. “That ’s mighty white of you, old man, but I don’t know where I shall make down.”

    • 1916, Julia Frankau, Twilight

      He's a fine fellow, this Gabriel Stanton, a white man all through

    • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, 2010, p.12:

      ‘We've only met twice and you've been more than white to me both times.’

    • 1976, United Church of Christ, A.D., number 1, page 34:

      Even decency has been regarded as a white or Christian attribute, as is evidenced by the expression "that's very white of you"

11. Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:

      Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head / So old and white as this.

12. (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
    • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, または III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644:

      On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.

13. (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.
    • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Marchauntes Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:

      Come forth, my white spouse.

    • c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore

      I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.

14. (politics) Pertaining to constitutional or anti-revolutionary political parties or movements.
    • 1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, 2010, p.163:

      Aimée de Coigny had always adopted with enthusiasm the political views of her ruling lover and she had thus already held nearly every shade of opinion from red republicanism to white reaction.

15. (of tea) Made from immature leaves and shoots.
    • 2012, Mary Lou Heiss & Robert J. Heiss, The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook, →ISBN:

      Most often consisting of a budset pluck, a frost tea has the clarity and freshness of a white tea, with the richness and lingering finish of a finely crafted black tea.

16. (typography) Not containing characters; see white space.
17. (typography) Said of a symbol or character outline, not solid, not filled with color. Compare black (“said of a character または symbol filled with color”).

    Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ☛ = "BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX"

18. Characterised by the presence of snow.

    a white Christmas

    a white Easter

派生語

関連する語

名詞

An egg yolk surrounded by the egg white.

a cabbage white, a Pieris butterfly.

white (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 whites)

1. The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 117:

     Not only were the platforms tiled in white, the tunnels were painted white too - to prettify them, and make them less claustrophobic - and the Central proudly issued a postcard of its tunnel-whitening machine.

2. A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.
   • 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World‎^[2]:

     The Indians carried first our canoes and then our stores through the brushwood, which is very thick at this point, while we four whites, our rifles on our shoulders, walked between them and any danger coming from the woods.

   • 2012, Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, →ISBN, page 54:

     The War on Drugs proved popular among key white voters, particularly whites who remained resentful of black progress, civil rights enforcement, and affirmative action.

3. Any butterfly of the family Pieridae.
4. (countable and uncountable) White wine.
   • 1977, Billy Joel (music), “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, in The Stranger:

     A bottle of red, a bottle of white / It all depends upon your appetite / I'll meet you any time you want / In our Italian Restaurant.

5. (countable) Any object or substance that is of the color white.
   1. The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).
   2. (anatomy) The sclera, white of the eye.
   3. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The cue ball in cue games.
   4. (slang, US) Cocaine
      • 2004, Kanye West (music), “On The Run”, Atlantic, performed by Bump J (featuring Rick James):

        I've got to hit the streets; I've got to move this white.

   5. The snow- or ice-covered "green" in snow golf.
   6. A white pigment.

      Venice white

6. (archery) The central part of the butt, which was formerly painted white; the centre of a mark at which a missile is shot.
   • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii]:

     'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white.

7. The enclosed part of a letter of the alphabet, especially when handwritten.
   • 1594, Hugh Plat, The Jewell House of Art and Nature, London, Chapter 38, p. 42,^[3]

     Also it giueth a great grace to your writing, if the whites of certeine letters bee made of one equall bignesse with the o. supposing the same were all round, as the white of the b. of the a. p. y. v. w. x. q. d. g. and s.

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 18,^[4]

     […] the a. b. d. g. o. p. q. &c. […] must be made with equal whites.

   • 1931, Margery Allingham, Police at the Funeral, Penguin, 1939, Chapter 14, p. 157,^[5]

     She copied the whole alphabet like that, as though only the inside whites of the letters registered on her mind.

派生語

動詞

white (三人称単数 現在形 whites, 現在分詞 whiting, 過去形および過去分詞形 whited)

1. (transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Matthew 23:27:

     whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of […] uncleanness

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Mark 9:3: