pale

pale · adjective, verb, noun¹

1. Latinpalleō
2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
3. Latinpallidus
4. Old Frenchpale
5. Middle Englishpale
6. English todaypale

From Middle English pale, from Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”), from palleō (“to be pale; to grow pale; to fade”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelito-, from *pelH- (“gray”). Doublet of pallid. Displaced native Old English blāc.

pale · noun, verb²

1. Latin · derived frompālus“stake, prop”
2. Old French · derived frompal
3. Middle English · inherited frompale
4. English todaypale

From Middle English pale, pal, borrowed from Old French pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”). English inherited the word pole (or, rather Old English pāl) from a much older Proto-Germanic borrowing of the same Latin word. Doublet of peel and pole.

Words from the same roots