albescent

adjective

al·​bes·​cent al-ˈbe-sᵊnt 

: white or tending toward white

Size and form of the common British Swift … but distinguished from it by its blacker colouring, narrow white band above the tail, widening on each side, and by the duller albescent hue of the throat gradually diminishing much further down …

—Edward Blyth, Zoologist, 1884

… an oceanfront that is like a travel agent's dream, where coco palms nod over endless stretches of brilliant albescent beach.

—advertisement, Fortune, 29 June 1981

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin albēscent-, albēscens, present participle of albēscere "to become white, brighten," from albus "white" + -ēscere, inchoative suffix

First Known Use

1705, in the meaning defined above

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