grey

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939)
  2. noun Queen of England for nine days in 1553; she was quickly replaced by Mary Tudor and beheaded for treason (1537-1554)
  3. noun Englishman who as Prime Minister implemented social reforms including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire (1764-1845)

Etymology

From Middle English grey, from Old English grēġ (Anglian). The spelling grey reflects the Anglian vowel development, whereas the variant gray stems from the West Saxon form grǣġ (through Middle English gray). Further derived from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (compare Dutch grauw, German grau, Old Norse grár), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”) (compare Latin rāvus (“grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”) (archaic), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

Zane Grey

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