Beige Meaning
/ˈbeɪʒ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA slightly yellowish gray colour, as that of unbleached wool.
nounA colour, variously defined from a pale brown, to a yellow greyish off-white.
Sentence Examples
She stained the wall beige.
He tricked me into thinking that his favorite color is beige.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The living room walls were painted a neutral ____ color that matched the sofa perfectly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She decided to paint the walls of the living room a light ____ color city.
Word Origin & History
Unadapted borrowing from French (dialectal) beige, from Old French bege (“color of undyed wool or cotton”), from an Alpine language (compare Franco-Provençal bézho, Romansch besch (“dull grey”)), from Vulgar Latin *bysseus (“cottony grey”) (compare French bis, Catalan bis, Italian bigio), from Late Latin byssus (“cotton”), from Ancient Greek βύσσος (bússos, “cotton homespun”), from Semitic (compare Hebrew/Aramaic בוץ (būṣ)). Doublet of bice.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Dagobert had only one customer, an American who wore square, rimless glasses and a beige suit and looked like a Wall Street tycoon."
— 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 24, in Crime out of Mind:
"Mr. Lauwaert of Sony said he realized that most consumers were not going to buy computers that cost far more than discount beige boxes."
— 2006 November 23, Michel Marriott, “When Beige Won’t Do”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Think about it: he grew up in Iowa, the beigest of states, was doted on, loved generously by his parents, the top of his class, probably voted Most Handsome of 2000."
— 2007, Prairie L. Markussen, Cover, page 48:
"In the beigest parts of suburbia where I grew up, bridge was a game played by groups of parents in recreation rooms furnished with upright pianos and souvenir sombreros."
— 2010, Gerald J. McCarthy, A Man of Substances:
"For a meal of relentlessly beige food, may I suggest the beigest of wines? That would be chardonnay, which will go beautifully with Melissa Clark’s chicken potpie."
— 2013 March 25, Eric Asimov, “A Beige Wine for a Beige Meal”, in NYT Diner’s Journal Blog:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The living room walls were painted a neutral ____ color that matched the sofa perfectly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She decided to paint the walls of the living room a light ____ color city.