dye definition

English dye definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /daɪ/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: die, Di, Dai

Etymology 1

From Middle English deie, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-Germanic *daugō (“colour, shade”), from *dauganą, *dug- (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”).

The verb is from Middle English deien, from Old English dēagian, from the noun.

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) die

Noun

dye (countable and uncountable, plural dyes)

1. A colourant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.
2. Any hue, color, or blee.

Synonyms

• colourant
• tincture

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ink

Verb

dye (third-person singular simple present dyes, present participle dyeing, simple past and past participle dyed)

1. (transitive) To colour with dye, or as if with dye.

   You look different. Have you had your hair dyed?

   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 164:

     If indeed sharks were inclined to eat people, the world's oceans would be dyed crimson with the blood of millions.

Synonyms

• (to color): tint, stain, shade, streak

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

dye (plural dyce)

1. Alternative spelling of die (“singular of dice”)
   • 1748. David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 46:

     If a dye were marked with one figure or number of spots on four sides, and with another figure or number of spots on the two remaining sides, it would be more probable, that the former would turn up than the latter;

Translations

Anagrams

• Dey, dey, ye'd, yed

Afrikaans dye definition

Noun

dye

1. plural of dy

Haitian Creole dye definition

Etymology

From French dieu (“god”).

Noun

dye

1. god