White
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See also: white
English
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Etymology 1
- As an English surname, from Middle English White, as a nickname for someone with white hair or pale complexion; in some cases from a personal name of the same meaning. See the modern adjective white.
- Also as an English surname, from Old English *wiht (“bend”), found only in placenames, a derivative of the verb wican (“to yield, bend”); compare Wight.
- As a Scottish Gaelic and Irish surname, used as a translation of several Gaelic names containing the element bán and geal, including Mac Giolla bháin (McElwain, Kilbane), Ó Gealagáin (Galligan), Bán (Bane), and Ó Banáin (Bannon).
- Also as a Scottish and Irish surname, an Anglicization of Irish de Faoite, itself from Anglo-Norman le White, le Whyte, from the same source as the English surname.
Proper noun
White (countable and uncountable, plural Whites)
- A common British and Irish surname transferred from the nickname.
- A locale in the United States:
- A minor city in Bartow County, Georgia; named for its first postmaster.
- A city in South Dakota; named for its first European settler.
- An unincorporated community in Washington; named for a Washington state judge.
- A ghost town in Missouri; named for a local mining official.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Statistics
- According to the 2010 United States Census, White is the 24th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 660,491 individuals. White is most common among White (65.5%) and Black/African American (28.2%) individuals.
Etymology 2
Adjective
White (not comparable)
- (chiefly US, sometimes Canada and UK) Alternative letter-case form of white (“of or relating to white complexion or Europeans”)
Noun
White (plural Whites)
- Alternative letter-case form of white (“European”).
- 1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 155:
- The Whites on the mission were a special kind of white person, special in the way that my grandmother had explained to me, for they were holy.
- (historical, politics) An anticommunist who fought against the Reds during the Russian Civil War; the term is mostly associated with monarchist forces.
- Hypernym: anticommunist
Anagrams
Middle English
Alternative forms
Proper noun
White
- a surname
Descendants
References
- “le_White”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.