greyish
part of speech
adjective (greyish; US also grayish)
meaning for a pupil
1) A little bit grey; a colour that is close to grey but not quite. tree →
2) Of hair, sky, light, etc.: starting to look grey. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and art it helps describe colours exactly: «greyish rock», «greyish-blue». In stories it sets a dull, cloudy or sad mood: «a greyish morning». The ending «-ish» means «rather, somewhat», as in «reddish», «smallish», «sevenish».
examples
- The sky was greyish before the rain began. tree →
- The rock in our sample was greyish with white spots. tree →
- The puppy has greyish fur on its nose. tree →
- Grandpa's hair is getting greyish. tree →
- The pond water looked greyish and cloudy. tree →
- I mixed white and black paint to get a greyish colour. tree →
- Her eyes are greyish-green. tree →
- Lun also means a greyish light. tree →
note
Spelling: «grey» and «greyish» in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; «gray» and «grayish» in the USA. Both are correct. «-ish» makes a word less exact: «greyish» is not fully grey.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «greyish» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.