Milky Meaning
/ˈmɪlki/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjResembling milk in color, consistency, smell, etc.; consisting of milk.
adjOf the black in an image, appearing as dark gray rather than black.
Sentence Examples
I remember the night when I first saw the Milky Way.
What Jansky had observed was the 14.6m wavelength radio wave from the Milky Way's core.
The milky liquid stains the yarn in a greenish color.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After adding the white powder, the clear water turned into a thick ____ liquid.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The high clouds turned the sun's usually bright rays into a soft, ____ white light that cast almost no shadows on the ground.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mylky, melky, equivalent to milk + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian moalkig (“milky”), West Frisian molkich (“milky”), Dutch melkig (“milky”), German Low German melkig (“milky”), German milchig (“milky”), Danish mælkig (“milky”), Swedish mjölkig (“milky”), Icelandic mjólkugur (“milky”). Doublet of milchig.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"his sword,
Which was declining on the milky head
Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:"
— c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
"The Pails high-foaming with a milky Flood,"
— 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “(please specify the book of the Iliad or chapter quoted from)”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 267, line 780:
"[…] the kind, slightly milky odour of cattle […]"
— 1928, Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness, Book One, Chapter Three, 3:
"She wheels her gaze from the wall on to me. The black irises are set off by milky whites as clear as a child’s."
— 1980, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 2, in Waiting for the Barbarians, Penguin, published 1999, pages 37–38:
"Mrs. Anthony, their daily housekeeper, brought in the milky coffee and placed it on the breakfast table."
— 1959, Muriel Spark, chapter 1, in Memento Mori, New York: New Directions, published 2000, page 13:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After adding the white powder, the clear water turned into a thick ____ liquid.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The high clouds turned the sun's usually bright rays into a soft, ____ white light that cast almost no shadows on the ground.