glaucous
adjective
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Glaucous Has Greek and Latin Origins
Glaucous came to English—by way of Latin glaucus—from Greek glaukos, meaning "gleaming" or "gray," and has been used to describe a range of pale colors from a yellow-green to a bluish-gray. The word is often found in horticultural writing describing the pale color of the leaves of various plants as well as the powdery bloom that can be found on some fruits and leaves. The stem glauc- appears in some other English words, the most familiar of which is glaucoma, referring to a disease of the eye that can result in gradual loss of vision. Glauc- also appears in the not-so-familiar glaucope, a word used to describe someone with fair hair and blue eyes (and a companion to cyanope, the term for someone with fair hair and brown eyes).
Example Sentences
Vladimir Sorokin, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022 Elsewhere in Fairhaven, there was a glaucous gull at Fort Phoenix and an early willow flycatcher on Egypt Lane. BostonGlobe.com, 7 May 2022 Its broad leaves, in colors that range from glaucous green to a pale yellow, form a spilling fountain shape. Earl Nickel, San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Sep. 2021 The real hazards are the predators—mainly Arctic foxes, but also glaucous gulls—that await the goslings on their route from the cliff bottom to the water’s edge. National Geographic, 28 Mar. 2019 Birds noted on South Monomoy Island included 2 blue-winged teal, 3 Northern shovelers, 14 Northern pintails, a glaucous gull, 5 American oystercatchers, and a snowy owl. BostonGlobe.com, 30 Apr. 2018 Hens and chicks and their relations do have a certain rubbery, glaucous charm. Bart Ziegler, WSJ, 15 June 2017 See More Word History
Latin glaucus, from Greek glaukos gleaming, gray
1671, in the meaning defined at sense 1a