whiten

See also:Whiten

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishwhitenen,whitnen,fromOld Norsehvítna(“to whiten”),fromProto-Germanic*hwītnōną(“to whiten, become white”),fromProto-Indo-European*kwind-,*kwint-(“bright”),equivalent towhite+‎-en.Cognate withIcelandichvítna(“to whiten”),Swedishvitna,hvitna(“to whiten”),Danishhvidne(“to whiten”).CompareOld Englishhwītian(“to whiten, become white, be white, make white”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈ(h)waɪ̯.tən/,[ˈ(h)waɪ̯tn̩],[ˈ(h)waɪ̯ʔn̩]

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-aɪtən

Verb

whiten(third-person singular simple presentwhitens,present participlewhitening,simple past and past participlewhitened)

1. (ergative)(To cause) to becomewhiteorwhiter;tobleachorblanch.

   Age hadwhitenedhis hair.

   The trees in springwhitenwith blossoms.

   • 2024February 12, very tall bart, 1:34 from the start, in[YTP]Dennis Prager is crazy‎^[1](YouTube poop; video), spoken by Penis Prager (Dennis Prager):

     Whenever black people are furious with me, I walk over to them andwhitentheir face, and scream and scream and scream 'daddy’s the boss.'

2. (cryptography)To increase the security of an iteratedblock cipherby steps that combine thedatawith portions of thekey.

Derived terms

• prewhiten

Translations

to make white or whiter; to bleach or blanch

• Arabic:بَيَّضَ(bayyaḍa)
• Aromanian:alghescu
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:ܡܲܚܘܸܪ(maḥwir)
• Bulgarian:избелвам(bg)(izbelvam)
• Catalan:blanquejar(ca)
• Esperanto:blankigi
• Finnish:vaalentaa(fi);valkaista(fi)(make completely white)
• French:blanchir(fr)
• Galician:branquear(gl),albear(gl)
• German:weißen(de)
• Gothic:𐌲𐌰𐍈𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽(gaƕeitjan)
• Greek:λευκαίνω(el)(lefkaíno),ασπρίζω(el)(asprízo)

  Ancient:λευκαίνω(leukaínō)

• Hebrew:הִלְבִּין(he)(hilbín)
• Hungarian:fehérít(hu)
• Ido:blankigar(io)
• Indonesian:putihkan(id)
• Italian:imbiancare(it),sbiancare(it)
• Japanese:Bạch くする(shirokusuru),Bạch める(shiromeru)
• Korean:하얗게하다(hayake hada)
• Latin:albicō,albō(la)
• Malay:putihkan
• Maori:whakamā,whakapūaho
• Polish:bielić(pl)impf
• Portuguese:branquear(pt),embranquecer(pt)
• Romanian:albi(ro)
• Russian:бели́ть(ru)impf(belítʹ),побели́ть(ru)pf(pobelítʹ);(bleach)отбе́ливать(ru)impf(otbélivatʹ),отбели́ть(ru)pf(otbelítʹ)
• Santali:ᱯᱳᱱᱰ(ponḍ)
• Spanish:blanquear(es)
• Swedish: göravit(sv),göra vitare,bleka(sv)
• Turkish:ağartmak(tr),aklamak(tr),beyazlatmak(tr),beyazlaştırmak

  Ottoman Turkish:بیاضلاتمق(beyazlatmak)

• Welsh:gwynnu(cy)

to become white or whiter; to bleach or blanch

• Ainu:レタㇻ(retar)
• Arabic:اِبْيَضَّ(ibyaḍḍa)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic:ܚܵܘܹܪ(ḥāwēr)
• Bulgarian:побелявам(pobeljavam)
• Catalan:blanquejar(ca)
• Esperanto:blankiĝi
• Finnish:vaaleta(fi),vaalentua(fi)
• French:blanchir(fr)
• German:weißwerden
• Greek:λευκαίνω(el)(lefkaíno),ασπρίζω(el)(asprízo)
• Ido:blankeskar(io)
• Indonesian:memutih(id)
• Irish:aol,bánaigh
• Italian:imbiancarsi,sbiancarsi
• Japanese:Bạch む(ja)(shiramu),Bạch ばむ(shirobamu),Bạch くなる(shirokunaru)
• Korean:하얘지다(ko)(hayaejida),희어지다(huieojida)
• Malay:memutih
• Polish:bielećimpf,zbielećpf,bielićsięimpf
• Portuguese:embranquecer(pt)
• Romanian:albi(ro)
• Russian:беле́ть(ru)impf(belétʹ),побеле́ть(ru)(pobelétʹ)
• Santali:ᱯᱳᱱᱰ(ponḍ)
• Spanish:blanquear(es)
• Swedish:vitna(sv)
• Telugu:తెల్లబడు(tellabaḍu)
• Turkish:ağarmak(tr),aklanmak(tr),beyazlamak,beyazlaşmak(tr)
• Ukrainian:біли́ти(uk)impf(bilýty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:سپیکردن(spîkirdin)