Blake

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A whitish or pallid shade ; to whiten or remove color from something
2. The quality of being pale or ashen ; to drain of color or make lighter in tone
3. A washed-out or faded hue ; to bleach or lighten the appearance of a material

Etymology: The word "blake" is an English dialect and archaic term meaning "pale," and it is a close relative of "bleak." Its roots run back to Proto-Germanic "blaikaz," a word for something pale or shining. Old English "blāc" carried a wide range of brightness: it could mean pallid and wan, but also bright, shining, or glittering, so the sense of light and the sense of paleness sat side by side from the start. Old Norse "bleikr" reinforced the word in Scandinavian, where it covered pale shades and also yellowish or pinkish tones, reflecting the same broad idea of a colour that is not strongly dark or red. Middle English then settled on "blak" and "blac" in the sense of pale, and the word survived in northern and Scottish speech, where the related Scots "bleg" meant light or drab.