Wiktionary

pale

See also: Appendix:Variations of "pale"
Languages (20)
English
Afrikaans • Estonian • French • Haitian Creole • Hawaiian • Ingrian • Italian • Jakaltek • Latin • Lindu • Lower Sorbian • Norman • Northern Kurdish • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old French • Polish • Serbo-Croatian • Swahili
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English

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 Pale on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

Adjective

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pale (comparative paler, superlative palest)

  1. Light in color.
    I have pale yellow wallpaper.
    She had pale skin because she didn't get much sunlight.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”
    • 1917, Jack London, chapter XV, in Michael, Brother of Jerry:
      A rangy, gangly, Scandinavian youth of a sailor, droop-shouldered, six feet six and slender as a lath, with pallid eyes of palest blue and skin and hair attuned to the same colour scheme, joined Kwaque in his work.
    • 2013, Leslie Morgan Steiner, The Baby Chase:
      Three years later, the unwatered cactus was still about two feet tall, a dark green color. The watered cactus was a paler green, its trunk visibly swollen with moisture. It had grown to be over five feet tall.
  2. (of human skin) Having a pallor (a light color, especially due to sickness, shock, fright etc.).
    His face turned pale after hearing about his mother's death.
  3. Feeble, faint.
    He is but a pale shadow of his former self.
    The son's clumsy paintings are a pale imitation of his father's.
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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pale (third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

  1. (intransitive) To turn pale; to lose colour.
    • 1856, Elizabeth Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C. S. Francis & Co., published 1857, page 282:
      But a man— / Note men !—they are but women after all, / As women are but Auroras !—there are men / Born tender, apt to pale at a trodden worm, / Who paint for pastime, in their favourite dream, / Spruce auto-vestments flowered with crocus-flames / There are, too, who believe in hell and lie : […]
  2. (intransitive) To become insignificant.
    • 1959 May, “Talking of Trains: "Rail-rovers" again”, in Trains Illustrated, page 236:
      (Although the conditions are rather different, the generosity of the offer certainly pales by comparison with the "Eurailpass" now available to tourists from North and South America at $125 (£44 13s.), which allows two months' unlimited first class travel throughout the railway systems of thirteen countries—[...].)
    • 2006 September 14, Katie Hafner, “Philanthropy Google’s Way: Not the Usual”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      Its financing pales next to the tens of billions that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have at its disposal, especially with the coming infusion of some $3 billion a year from Warren E. Buffett, the founder of Berkshire Hathaway.
    • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
      The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.
  3. (transitive) To make pale; to diminish the brightness of.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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pale

  1. (obsolete) Paleness; pallor.
    • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, lines [589–592]:
      The boare (quoth ſhe) whereat a ſuddain pale, / Like lawne being ſpred vpon the bluſhing roſe, / Vſurpes her cheeke, ſhe trembles at his tale, / And on his neck her yoaking armes ſhe throwes.

Etymology 2

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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.

Noun

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pale (plural pales)

  1. A wooden stake; a picket.
    • 1707, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry, London: H. Mortlock & J. Robinson, 2nd edition, 1708, Chapter 1, pp. 11-12,[3]
      […] if you deſign it a Fence to keep in Deer, at every eight or ten Foot diſtance, ſet a Poſt with a Mortice in it to ſtand a little ſloping over the ſide of the Bank about two Foot high; and into the Mortices put a Rail […] and no Deer will go over it, nor can they creep through it, as they do often, when a Pale tumbles down.
    • 1997, Gabrielle M. Lanier, Bernard L. Herman, Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic, page 90:
      Ceiling joists were sometimes grooved to receive riven staves or pales that secured mud-and-straw walling.
    • 2015, Mark E. Reinberger, Elizabeth McLean, The Philadelphia Country House:
      Pales (irregular, hand-riven, 1′′ × 4′′ boards) are inserted into grooves on both sides of the floor joists; on top of these, similar pales are laid at right angles; finally a plasterlike mixture is poured over and around the top pales,
  2. (archaic) A fence made from wooden stake; palisade.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      How are we park’d and bounded in a pale, / A little herd of England’s timorous deer, / Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs!
    • 1615, Ralph Hamor, A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia‎[4], London: William Welby, page 13:
      Fourthly, they ſhall not vpon any occaſion whatſoeuer breake downe any of our pales, or come into any of our Townes or forts by any other waies, iſſues or ports then ordinary […]
  3. (by extension) Limits, bounds (especially before of).
    • 1645, John Milton, Il Penseroso, in The Poetical Works of Milton, volume II, Edinburgh: Sands, Murray, and Cochran, published 1755, p. 151, lines 155–160:[5]
      But let my due feet never fail, / To walk the ſtudious cloyſters pale, / And love the high embowed roof, / With antic pillars maſſy proof, / And ſtoried windows richly dight, / Caſting a dim religious light.
    • 1798, [Samuel Rogers], “An Epistle to a Friend”, in An Epistle to a Friend, with Other Poems. […], London: […] R. Noble, for T[homas] Cadell, Junior, and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–20:
      The moſſy pales that ſkirt the orchard-green, / Here hid by ſhrub-vvood, there by glimpſes ſeen; […]
    • 1900, Jack London, The Son of the Wolf:The Wisdom of the Trail:
      Men so situated, beyond the pale of the honor and the law, are not to be trusted.
    • 1919, B. G. Jefferis, J. L. Nichols, Searchlights on Health:When and Whom to Marry:
      All things considered, we advise the male reader to keep his desires in check till he is at least twenty-five, and the female not to enter the pale of wedlock until she has attained the age of twenty.
  5. (heraldry) A vertical band down the middle of a shield.
    Hypernym: ordinary
    Coordinate terms: pallet, endorse, cottise
  6. (archaic) A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.
    1. (historical) The parts of Ireland under English jurisdiction.
    2. (historical) The territory around Calais under English control (from the 14th to 16th centuries).
      • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 402:
        He knows the fortifications – crumbling – and beyond the city walls the lands of the Pale, its woods, villages and marshes, its sluices, dykes and canals.
      • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 73:
        A low-lying, marshy enclave stretching eighteen miles along the coast and pushing some eight to ten miles inland, the Pale of Calais nestled between French Picardy to the west and, to the east, the imperial-dominated territories of Flanders.
    3. (historical) A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live (the Pale of Settlement).
  7. (archaic) The jurisdiction (territorial or otherwise) of an authority.
  8. A cheese scoop.[1]
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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pale (third-person singular simple present pales, present participle paling, simple past and past participle paled)

  1. To enclose with pales, or as if with pales; to encircle or encompass; to fence off.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      […] your iſle, which ſtands / As Neptunes Parke, ribb’d, and pal’d in / With Oakes vnſkaleable, and roaring Waters, / With Sands that will not bear your Enemies Boates, / But ſuck them vp to th’ Top-maſt.
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References

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  1. ^ P. L. Simmonds, A Dictionary of Trade Products, Commercial, Manufacturing, and Technical Terms, London: Routledge, 1858, p. 272,[1]

Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Noun

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pale

  1. plural of paal

Estonian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Finnic *palgëh.

Noun

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pale (genitive pale, partitive palge or pale)

  1. cheek

Declension

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Declension of pale (ÕS type 6/mõte, g-ø gradation)
singular plural
nominative pale palged
accusative nom.
gen. palge
genitive palete
partitive palet palgeid
illative palgesse paletesse
palgeisse
inessive palges paletes
palgeis
elative palgest paletest
palgeist
allative palgele paletele
palgeile
adessive palgel paletel
palgeil
ablative palgelt paletelt
palgeilt
translative palgeks paleteks
palgeiks
terminative palgeni paleteni
essive palgena paletena
abessive palgeta paleteta
comitative palgega paletega
Declension of pale (ÕS type 16/pere, no gradation)
singular plural
nominative pale paled
accusative nom.
gen. pale
genitive palede
partitive palet palesid
illative palle
palesse 		paledesse
inessive pales paledes
elative palest paledest
allative palele paledele
adessive palel paledel
ablative palelt paledelt
translative paleks paledeks
terminative paleni paledeni
essive palena paledena
abessive paleta paledeta
comitative palega paledega

French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Occitan pala (or some western Oïl language), from Latin pāla (“shovel, spade”). Doublet of pelle.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pale f (plural pales)

  1. blade (of a propeller etc)
  2. vane (of a windmill etc)

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Haitian Creole

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Etymology

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From French parler (“talk, speak”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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pale

  1. to talk, to speak
    • 2019 March 19, “Rankont ann Itali ant Anvwaye Espesyal Etazini ak Larisi sou Kriz Venezuela a”, in Lavwadlamerik‎[6]:
      Anvwaye espesyal Etazini pou Venezuela, Elliot Abrams, ak vis-minis afè etranjè Larisi, Sergei Ryabkov, ap fè reyinyon nan vil Wòm ann Itali pou yo pale sou “sityasyon Venezuela kap agrave.”
      American Special Envoy for Venezuela Elliot Abrams and Russian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov are meeting in the city of Rome, Italy to talk about "the worsening situation in Venezuela."

Hawaiian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈpa.le/, [ˈpɐ.le]

Etymology 1

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From Proto-Oceanic *pale₂ (cognate with Maori pare (“headdband, wreath”), Samoan pale and Tongan pale (both “wreath”))[1][2]

Noun

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pale

  1. headdress
  2. cover
  3. pad, lining

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1986) “pale”, in Hawaiian Dictionary, revised & enlarged edition, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 311
  2. ^ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “pale.2”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

Etymology 2

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From Proto-Oceanic *pale₁ (cognate with Maori pare)[1][2]

Verb

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pale

  1. to ward off
  2. to protect

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1986) “pale”, in Hawaiian Dictionary, revised & enlarged edition, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 311
  2. ^ Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “pale.1”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

Ingrian

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Etymology

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From Proto-Finnic *palgëh. Cognates include Finnish palje and Estonian pale.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pale

  1. padding at the bottom of a horse's stirrup

Declension

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Declension of pale (type 6/lähe, k- gradation)
singular plural
nominative pale palkeet
genitive palkeen palkein
partitive paletta palkeita
illative palkeesse palkeisse
inessive palkees palkeis
elative palkeest palkeist
allative palkeelle palkeille
adessive palkeel palkeil
ablative palkeelt palkeilt
translative palkeeks palkeiks
essive palkeenna, palkeen palkeinna, palkein
exessive1) palkeent palkeint
1) obsolete
*) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl)
**) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

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  • Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 378

Italian

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Noun

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pale f

  1. plural of pala

Anagrams

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Jakaltek

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Spanish padre (“father”).

Noun

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pale

  1. priest

References

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  • Church, Clarence, Church, Katherine (1955) Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano‎[7] (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 17; 39

Latin

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek πάλη (pálē).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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palē f (genitive palēs); first declension

  1. a wrestling
Declension
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First-declension noun (Greek-type).

singular plural
nominative palē palae
genitive palēs palārum
dative palae palīs
accusative palēn palās
ablative palē palīs
vocative palē palae

Etymology 2

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Noun

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pāle

  1. vocative singular of pālus

References

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  • “pale”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • pale in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “pale”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “pale”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Lindu

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Noun

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pale

  1. (anatomy) hand

Lower Sorbian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈpalɛ/, [ˈpalə]

Participle

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pale

  1. third-person plural present of paliś

Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French pale, from Latin pallidus (“pale, pallid”).

Adjective

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pale m or f

  1. (Jersey) pale

Synonyms

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Northern Kurdish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pale ?

  1. worker

Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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pale n (definite singular paleet, indefinite plural pale or paleer, definite plural palea or paleene)

  1. alternative spelling of palé

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Noun

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pale n (definite singular paleet, indefinite plural pale, definite plural palea)

  1. alternative spelling of palé

Old French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin pallidus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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pale m (oblique and nominative feminine singular pale)

  1. pale, whitish or having little color

Descendants

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  • English: pale
  • French: pâle
  • Norman: pale (Jersey)

Polish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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pale m

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of pal

Noun

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pale m

  1. locative/vocative singular of pał

Noun

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pale f

  1. dative/locative singular of pała

Further reading

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  • pale in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

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Verb

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pale (Cyrillic spelling пале)

  1. third-person plural present of paliti

Participle

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pale (Cyrillic spelling пале)

  1. feminine plural active past participle of pȁsti

Swahili

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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pale

  1. Pa class inflected form of -le.
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