yellow

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
yellow/ˈjeləʊ/

▶adjective

• 1 of the colour between green and orange in the spectrum, a primary subtractive colour complementary to blue; coloured like ripe lemons or egg yolks.

  ■ offensive having a yellowish or olive skin (as used to describe Chinese or Japanese people).

  ■ denoting a warning of danger which is thought to be near but not actually imminent.

• 2 informal cowardly.

• 3 (of a book or newspaper) unscrupulously sensational.

▶noun

• 1 yellow colour or pigment.

• 2 used in names of yellow butterflies and moths, e.g. clouded yellow.

• 3 (yellows) any of a number of plant diseases in which the leaves turn yellow, typically caused by viruses and transmitted by insects.

▶verb become a yellow colour, especially with age.

– phrases
the yellow peril offensive the political or military threat regarded as being posed by the Chinese or by the peoples of SE Asia.

– derivatives
yellowed adjective,
yellowing adjective,
yellowish adjective,
yellowness noun,
yellowy adjective.

– origin OE geolu, geolo, of W. Gmc origin; rel. to gold.