beige
- 01 B1 Intermediate
adj.having a pale, sandy-brown or yellowish-grey colour.
adj.having a light, neutral colour between pale brown and off-white.
Simple“She chose a beige carpet because it matches almost any furniture.”
In context“The interior designer recommended a beige palette for the living room to create a neutral backdrop for the client's vibrant art collection.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
adj.boring, plain, or not having any exciting qualities.
adj.metaphorically dull, unadventurous, or lacking in character; often implies a safe but uninspiring middle-class aesthetic.
Simple“The new office building is a bit beige and lacks any interesting features.”
In context“Critics dismissed the film as beige, arguing that it relied on safe tropes rather than taking any creative risks.”
Teacher's tipThis figurative sense is increasingly common in modern slang to describe people or lifestyles that are 'too safe' or conventional.
- 03 B1 Intermediate
n.a pale brown or yellowish-grey colour.
n.a pale yellowish-brown colour, similar to the appearance of unbleached wool.
Simple“The walls were painted in a soft shade of beige.”
In context“The artist used various tones of beige and cream to capture the subtle textures of the desert landscape.”
Synonyms
Unadapted borrowing from French (dialectal) beige, from Old French bege (“color of undyed wool or cotton”), from an Alpine language (compare Franco-Provençal bézho, Romansch besch (“dull grey”)), from Vulgar Latin *bysseus (“cottony grey”) (compare French bis, Catalan bis, Italian bigio), from Late Latin byssus (“cotton”), from Ancient Greek βύσσος (bússos, “cotton homespun”), from Semitic (compare Hebrew/Aramaic בוץ (būṣ)). Doublet of bice.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.