Meanings
whiten1
verbwhiten (third-person singular simple present whitens, present participle whitening, simple past and past participle whitened)
present singular third person whitens · participle present whitening · participle past whitened · past whitened
- ergative(To cause) to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch.
Age had whitened his hair.
2 more examples
The trees in spring whiten with blossoms.
Whenever black people are furious with me, I walk over to them and whiten their face, and scream and scream and scream 'daddy’s the boss.'
2024 February 12, very tall bart, 1:34 from the start, in [YTP] Dennis Prager is crazy (YouTube poop; video), spoken by Penis Prager (Dennis Prager) - computingTo increase the security of an iterated block cipher by steps that combine the data with portions of the key.
- mathematicsTo normalize data so that the covariance matrix becomes the identity matrix; i.e., to remove correlations so each variable has unit variance.
Whiten2
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kwind-
- Proto-Germanic*hwītnōną“to whiten, become white”
- Old Norsehvítna“to whiten”
- Middle Englishwhitenen
- Englishwhiten
From Middle English whitenen, whitnen, from Old Norse hvítna (“to whiten”), from Proto-Germanic *hwītnōną (“to whiten, become white”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwind-, *kwint- (“bright”), equivalent to white + -en. Cognate with Icelandic hvítna (“to whiten”), Swedish vitna, hvitna (“to whiten”), Danish hvidne (“to whiten”). Compare Old English hwītian (“to whiten, become white, be white, make white”).
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek λευκαίνω
- λευκαίνω (leukaínō)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Arabic بَيَّضَ, اِبْيَضَّ
- بَيَّضَ (bayyaḍa)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- اِبْيَضَّ (ibyaḍḍa)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Bulgarian избелвам, побелявам
- избелвам (izbelvam)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- побелявам (pobeljavam)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Catalan blanquejar, blanquejar
- blanquejarto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- blanquejarto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Esperanto blankigi, blankiĝi
- blankigito make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- blankiĝito become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Finnish vaalentaa, valkaista
- vaalentaato make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- valkaistato make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- vaaletato become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- vaalentuato become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
French blanchir, blanchir
- blanchirto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- blanchirto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
German weißen, weiß werden
- weißento make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- weiß werdento become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Greek λευκαίνω, ασπρίζω
- λευκαίνω (lefkaíno)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- ασπρίζω (asprízo)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- λευκαίνω (lefkaíno)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- ασπρίζω (asprízo)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Hebrew הִלְבִּין
- הִלְבִּין (hilbín)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Hungarian fehérít
- fehérítto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Indonesian putihkan, memutih
- putihkanto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- memutihto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Irish aol, bánaigh
- aolto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- bánaighto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Italian imbiancare, sbiancare
- imbiancareto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- sbiancareto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- imbiancarsito become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- sbiancarsito become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Japanese 白くする, 白める
- 白くする (shirokusuru)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 白める (shiromeru)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 白む (shiramu)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 白ばむ (shirobamu)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 白くなる (shirokunaru)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Korean 하얗게 하다, 하얘지다
- 하얗게 하다 (hayake hada)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 하얘지다 (hayaejida)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- 희어지다 (huieojida)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Latin albicō, albō
- albicōto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- albōto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Malay putihkan, memutih
- putihkanto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- memutihto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Māori whakamā, whakapūaho
- whakamāto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- whakapūahoto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Polish bielić, bieleć
- bielićto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- bielećto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- zbielećto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- bielić sięto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Portuguese branquear, embranquecer
- branquearto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- embranquecerto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- embranquecerto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Romanian albi, albi
- albito make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- albito become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Russian бели́ть, побели́ть
- бели́ть (belítʹ)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- побели́ть (pobelítʹ)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- отбе́ливать (bleach)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- отбели́ть (otbelítʹ)to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- беле́ть (belétʹ)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- побеле́ть (pobelétʹ)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Spanish blanquear, albear
- blanquearto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- albearto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- blanquearto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- albearto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Swedish göra vit, göra vitare
- göra vitto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- göra vitareto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- blekato make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- vitnato become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Turkish ağartmak, aklamak
- ağartmakto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- aklamakto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- beyazlatmakto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- beyazlaştırmakto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- ağarmakto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- aklanmakto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- beyazlamakto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
- beyazlaşmakto become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Ukrainian біли́ти
- біли́ти (bilýty)to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Welsh gwynnu
- gwynnuto make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with whiten
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
whiten. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whiten
MLA
“whiten.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whiten. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whiten,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whiten.
Source: whiten on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.