different between white vs lean

English

Alternative forms

• whight, whyte, whyght (obsolete)
• White (race-related)

Etymology

From Middle English whit, hwit, from Old English hw?t, from Proto-West Germanic *hw?t, from Proto-Germanic *hw?taz (whence also West Frisian wyt, Dutch wit, German weiß, Norwegian Bokmål hvit, Norwegian Nynorsk kvit), from Proto-Indo-European *?weydós, a byform of *?weytós (“bright; shine”). Compare Lithuanian švi?sti (“to gleam”), šviesa (“light”), Old Church Slavonic ????? (sv?t?, “light”), ??????? (sv?t?l?, “clear, bright”), Persian ????? (sefid), Avestan ????????????????????????? (spa?ta, “white”), Sanskrit ????? (?vetá, “white, bright”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?t, IPA^(key): /wa?t/
• (without the wine–whine merger) enPR: hw?t, IPA^(key): /?a?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• Homophones: wight, Wight, wite (accents with the wine-whine merger)

Adjective

white (comparative whiter or more white, superlative whitest or most white)

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

     dorr??, d?r? 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.
3. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by Caucasians.

4. Relatively light or pale in colour.

5. Pale or pallid, as from fear, illness, etc.
6. (of a person or skin) Lacking coloration (tan) from ultraviolet light; not tanned.

   Synonyms: fair, pale

   Antonym: tanned

7. (of coffee or 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.

9. Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.
10. Honourable, fair; decent.

    • White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.

    • 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.’
11. Grey, as from old age; having silvery hair; hoary.
12. (archaic) Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favourable.
13. (obsolete) Regarded with especial favour; favourite; darling.

    • 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.
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 or symbol filled with color”).

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

18. Characterised by the presence of snow.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Bislama: waet
• Tok Pisin: wait
• ? Japanese: ???? (howaito)
• white fella
  • ? Nyunga: wadjela
• white gin
  • ? Gamilaraay: waatyin
  • ? Ngiyambaa: wadjiin
  • ? Wiradhuri: waajin

Translations

See white/translations § Adjective.

Noun

white (countable and uncountable, plural whites)

1. The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.
2. A person of European descent with light-coloured skin.
3. Any butterfly of the family Pieridae.
4. (countable and uncountable) White wine.
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
   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.
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.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

white (third-person singular simple present whites, present participle whiting, simple past and past participle whited)

1. (transitive) To make white; to whiten; to bleach.

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

   • so as no fuller on earth can white them

Derived terms

• white out

See also

• leucite
• leukoma
• leukosis
• Sauvignon blanc
• Svetambara
• terra alba

Further reading

• white on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Race on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• white on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• withe

Middle English

Adjective

white

1. inflection of whit:
   1. weak singular
   2. strong/weak plural
2. Alternative form of whit

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: l?n, IPA^(key): /li?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n
• Homophone: lien

Etymology 1

From Middle English lenen (“to lean”), from Old English hleonian, hlinian (“to lean, recline, lie down, rest”), from Proto-Germanic *hlin?n? (“to lean, incline”), from Proto-Indo-European *?ley-. Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Middle Dutch leunen (“to lean”), German lehnen (“to lean”); via Proto-Indo-European with climate, cline.

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned or (UK) leant)

1. To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating.

2. (copulative) To incline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; often with to, toward, etc.
3. Followed by against, on, or upon: to rest or rely, for support, comfort, etc.
4. To hang outwards.
5. To press against.

Derived terms

Related terms

• climate
• cline

Translations

Noun

lean (plural leans)

1. (of an object taller than its width and depth) An inclination away from the vertical.

   The trees had various leans toward gaps in the canopy.

Synonyms

• (inclination away from vertical): tilt

Etymology 2

From Middle English lene (“lean”), from Old English hl?ne (“lean”), (cognate with Low German leen), perhaps from hl?nan (“to cause to lean (due to hunger or lack of food)”), from Proto-Germanic *hlainijan? (“to cause to lean”). If so, then related to Old English hlinian, hleonian (“to lean”).

Adjective

lean (comparative leaner, superlative leanest)

1. (of a person or animal) Slim; not fleshy.

   Synonyms: lithe, svelte, willowy; see also Thesaurus:slender

2. (of meat) Having little fat.

3. Having little extra or little to spare; scanty; meagre.

   Synonyms: insufficient, scarce, sparse; see also Thesaurus:inadequate

4. Having a low proportion or concentration of a desired substance or ingredient.

   Synonyms: deficient, dilute, poor

   Antonym: rich

5. (printing, archaic) Of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; opposed to fat.

6. (business) Efficient, economic, frugal, agile, slimmed-down; pertaining to the modern industrial principles of "lean manufacturing"

Derived terms

• leanness
• leansome

Translations

Noun

lean (countable and uncountable, plural leans)

1. (uncountable) Meat with no fat on it.
   • 1639 or earlier, Anon, Jack Sprat

     Jack Sprat would eat no fat, / His wife would eat no lean.

2. (countable, biology) An organism that is lean in stature.
   • 1986, Southwest Fisheries Center (U.S.), Collected Reprints (issue 1)

     The intermediates and leans are the predominant morphotypes found at the SE-NHR seamounts […]

   • 2012, Obesity: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional (page 56)

     Obese Zuckers, compared to leans, consumed more food under free-feeding conditions.

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned)

1. To thin out (a fuel-air mixture): to reduce the fuel flow into the mixture so that there is more air or oxygen.

Etymology 3

From Icelandic leyna? Akin to German leugnen (“deny”). Compare lie (“speak falsely”).

Verb

lean (third-person singular simple present leans, present participle leaning, simple past and past participle leaned)

1. To conceal.

References

Etymology 4

Probably from the verb to lean (see etymology 1 above), supposedly because consumption of the intoxicating beverage causes one to "lean".

Noun

lean (uncountable)

1. (slang, US) A recreational drug based on codeine-laced promethazine cough syrup, popular in the hip hop community in the southeastern United States.

   Synonyms: sizzurp, syrup, purple drank

See also

• lean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• lean in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• lean in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Alne, ELAN, Lane, Lena, Nale, Neal, elan, enal, lane, nale, neal, élan

Galician

Verb

lean

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of ler

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?leyH- (“to smear”); compare Latin lin? (“anoint”), l?mus (“mud, slime”), Sanskrit ?????? (lin?ti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /l?an??/
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): /l??an?/, /l??an??/

Verb

lean (present analytic leanann, future analytic leanfaidh, verbal noun leanúint, past participle leanta)

1. (transitive, intransitive) follow
2. continue

3. remain
4. endure

Conjugation

• Alternative verbal noun: leanacht (Cois Fharraige)

Derived terms

• folean
• leantóir

Further reading

• "lean" in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “lenaid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /?lea?n/

Verb

lean

1. inflection of leat:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. past indicative connegative

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læ???n/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *laun?, from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *leh?w- (“catch, plunder, profit”). Cognate with Old Frisian l?n, Old Saxon l?n, Dutch loon, Old High German l?n (German Lohn), Old Norse laun (Swedish lön), Gothic ???????????????? (laun). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek ???? (leía) (from *?????), Latin lucrum, Old Church Slavonic ???? (lov?) (Russian ??? (lov)), Old Irish lóg, Lithuanian lãvinti.

Noun

l?an n

1. reward

Declension

Derived terms

• i?l?an

Related terms

• l?anian

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *lahan?. Cognate with Old Saxon lahan, Old High German lahan, Old Norse lá, Gothic ???????????????????? (laian).

Verb

l?an

1. (transitive) to blame, fault, reproach

Conjugation

Descendants

• Middle English: *l?en (attested in past tense lough)

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish lenaid (“stays, sticks (to), follows”), from Proto-Celtic *linati (“stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?leyH- (“to smear”); compare Latin lin? (“anoint”), Sanskrit ?????? (lin?ti, “sticks, stays”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n/

Verb

lean (past lean, future leanaidh, verbal noun leantainn or leanmhainn, past participle leanta)

1. follow
2. continue, proceed

Derived terms

• fo-leantach (“subjunctive”)
• lean air (“continue”)
• ainlean (“persecute”)

Spanish

Verb

lean

1. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of leer.
2. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of leer.
3. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes^?) present subjunctive form of leer.

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

lean n (plural leanen, diminutive leantsje)

1. wage, wages, salary
2. reward

Further reading

• “lean”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011