glaucous

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UK/ˈɡlɔː.kəs/US/ˈɡlɑ.kəs/US/ˈɡlɔ.kəs/

adjective

Of a pale grey or bluish-green, especially when covered with a powdery residue.

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UncommonScrabble 11

Meanings

adjectiveglaucous (comparative more glaucous, superlative most glaucous)

comparative more glaucous · superlative most glaucous

  1. Of a pale grey or bluish-green, especially when covered with a powdery residue.

    I realised I was the only shopper in that rather eerie place where I moved about fishlike, in a glaucous aquarium […]

    1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
    2 more examples

    […] inside you could see the wires and cables that ran aft to the rudder and elevators and the cracked and curled and sunblacked leather of the seats and in their tarnished nickel bezels the glass of instrument dials glaucous and clouded from the pumicing of the desert sands.

    1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing

    Traveling at sea for the first time is a chance to realize that the ocean is not one ocean. The water changes. The Atlantic that seethes off the eastern U.S. is glaucous and lightless and looks mean. Around Jamaica, though, it’s more like a milky aquamarine, and translucent.

    1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group
  2. biologyCovered with a bloom or a pale powdery covering, regardless of colour.

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivehaving a frosted look from a powdery coating, as on plants

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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekγλαυκός“blue-green, blue-grey”
  2. Latinglaucus
  3. Englishglaucous

From Latin glaucus, from Ancient Greek γλαυκός (glaukós, “blue-green, blue-grey”), 1670s. See Irish glas.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek γλαυκός
  • γλαυκός (glaukós)of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Bulgarian сивозеленикав, мъхест
  • сивозеленикав (sivozelenikav)of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
  • мъхест (măhest)covered with a bloom or a pale powdery covering, regardless of colour
Catalan glauc
  • glaucof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
French pruiné
  • pruinécovered with a bloom or a pale powdery covering, regardless of colour
Greek γλαυκός
  • γλαυκός (glafkós)of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Indonesian biru telur itik
  • biru telur itikof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Italian glauco
  • glaucoof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Latin glaucus
  • glaucusof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Portuguese glauco
  • glaucoof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Romanian glauc
  • glaucof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Russian серо-зелёный, сизый
  • серо-зелёный (sero-zeljónyj)of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
  • сизый (sizyj)of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Spanish glauco
  • glaucoof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
Welsh llwydlas, llwydwyrdd
  • llwydlasof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge
  • llwydwyrddof a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with glaucous

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Cite this entry
APA

glaucous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glaucous

MLA

“glaucous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glaucous. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glaucous,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glaucous.

Source: glaucous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.