English
pallor
Pallor comes from Old French palor ‘paleness, pallor’, and goes back to Latin palleō ‘to look pale, blanch’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalleō‘to look pale, blanch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpallor‘a pale color, paleness, wanness, pallor’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400palor‘paleness, pallor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pallour‘paleness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886pallor
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalleō‘to look pale, blanch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpallor‘a pale color, paleness, wanness, pallor’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400palor‘paleness, pallor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pallour‘paleness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1886pallor
Earliest quotation: 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Last Night: “‘Sir,’ said the butler, turning to a sort of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pelH- ‘gray’
poly, poulter, fallow, paloma, palomino, 25 more
through Latin palleō ‘to look pale, blanch’
Today it means
noun Unnatural paleness, especially as a sign of sickness or distress.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin palleō / pallor