Lutescent

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Gradually becoming yellowish or taking on a pale yellow hue
2. Turning progressively toward a yellow or golden color as a natural process
3. Assuming an increasingly yellowish appearance through gradual transformation
4. Turning toward a yellow tone or assuming a saffron-like coloration over time
5. Displaying a slow transition into shades of gold or amber as a natural process

Etymology: Lutescent comes from Latin "luteus", meaning "yellow", a word that also gave English "lute" in one of its older senses, the plant-derived yellow dye, though the instrument's name has a different history. The Latin "luteus" itself was used for the colour of the dye-plant and of things tinged with that hue, and the adjective carries a sense of a soft, pale yellow rather than a bright or golden one. The ending "-escent" is a Latin suffix meaning "beginning to" or "becoming", so lutescent describes something in the process of turning yellow rather than something already fully yellow. The same suffix appears in words such as "luminescent" and "iridescent", which share this sense of a gradual change of state.

Synonyms: yellowing