bleak

bleak · adjective¹

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*blaikaz“pale, shining”
2. Old Norse · derived frombleikr“pale, whitish”
3. Old English · inherited fromblǣc
4. Middle English · inherited fromblak
5. Middle English · inherited frombleke
6. English todaybleak

From Middle English bleke (also bleche, whence the English doublet bleach (“pale, bleak”)), and bleike (due to Old Norse), and earlier Middle English blak, blac (“pale, wan”), from Old English blǣc, blǣċ, blāc (“bleak, pale, pallid”) and Old Norse bleikr (“pale, whitish”), all from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale, shining”). Cognate with Dutch bleek (“pale, wan, pallid”), Low German blek (“pale”), German bleich (“pale, wan, sallow”), Danish bleg (“pale”), Swedish blek (“pale, pallid”), Norwegian Bokmål bleik, blek (“pale”), Norwegian Nynorsk bleik (“pale”), Faroese bleikur (“pale”), Icelandic bleikur (“pale, pink”).

bleak · noun²

1. Middle English · derived from*bleye“blay”
2. Old English · inherited fromblǣġe“bleak, blay, gudgeon”
3. Middle English · inherited frombleke“small river fish, bleak, blay”
4. English todaybleak

From Middle English bleke (“small river fish, bleak, blay”), perhaps an alteration (due to Old English blǣc (“bright”) or Old Norse bleikja) of Old English blǣġe (“bleak, blay, gudgeon”); or perhaps from a diminutive of Middle English *bleye (“blay”), equivalent to blay + -ock or blay + -kin. See blay.

Words from the same roots