beige

The story

1. Semitic · derived from
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromβύσσος“cotton homespun”
3. Late Latin · derived frombyssus“cotton”
4. Vulgar Latin · derived from*bysseus“cottony grey”
5. Old French · derived frombege“color of undyed wool or cotton”
6. French · borrowed from(dialectal) beige
7. English todaybeige

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.

Words from the same roots