# gray

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ɡɹeɪ/ · frequency rank #3,304

## Definitions
1. Of a colour between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
2. Dreary, gloomy, cloudy.
3. Of indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality or acceptability.
4. Gray-haired.
5. Old.
6. Relating to older people.

## Etymology
From Middle English gray, from Old English grǣġ, grǣw (“grey”), from Proto-West Germanic *grāu, from Proto-Germanic *grēwaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁- (“to green, to grow”).
Cognate with West Frisian grau (“grey”), Dutch grauw (“grey”), German Low German grau, graag (“grey”), German grau (“grey”), Swedish grå (“grey”), Icelandic grár (“grey”), Latin rāvus (“tawny, grey”), Old Church Slavonic зьрѭ (zĭrjǫ, “to see, to glance”), archaic Russian зреть (zretʹ, “to watch, to look at”), Lithuanian žeriù (“to shine”).

## Easily confused with
- **guy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-guy)
- **GTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-gta)
- **GRE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-gre)
- **GSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-gsa)
- **GRU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-gru)
- **gro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-gro)
- **grr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grr)
- **grt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grt)
- **grow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grow)
- **grew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grew)
- **grey** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grey)
- **Greg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-greg)
- **grid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grid)
- **grip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grip)
- **grim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grim)
- **grin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grin)
- **grit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grit)
- **Guam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-guam)
- **grub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-grub)
- **guan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/gray-vs-guan)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ggray`, `grayy`, `grray`, `grya`, `rgay`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/gray