pale
n. countablen. a boundary or limit that separates what is acceptable from what is not. You usually hear this in the phrase 'beyond the pale' to describe someone's bad behavior.
n. a wooden stake used for fencing, or a boundary or limit. In modern usage, it is almost exclusively found in the idiomatic expression 'beyond the pale', referring to conduct that falls outside the limits of social or moral propriety.
His rude comments were truly beyond the pale.
The committee decided that the manager's use of company funds for personal travel was beyond the pale and demanded his resignation.
While the political debate was heated, the candidate's personal attacks on his opponent's family were considered beyond the pale by even his most loyal supporters.
Etymology tree Latin palleō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Latin -idus Latin pallidus Old French palebor. Middle English pale English pale 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.
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.
Primarily used in the fixed idiom 'beyond the pale'. In its literal sense of a fence or boundary, it is now largely archaic or restricted to historical contexts like the 'Pale of Settlement'.