pallor

noun

pal·​lor ˈpa-lər 

: deficiency of color especially of the face : paleness

The boy's sickly pallor concerned his parents.

Examples of pallor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Already, his story had begun to take on the grim pallor of tragedy. —Jack Lang, New York Times, 28 May 2026

Addae is developing zinc oxide sunscreens that don’t leave as much of a white pallor by changing the shape of the chemical’s particle structure, an advancement which may be particularly beneficial for people with darker skin tones. —Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 25 May 2026

Die große Nacht im Eimer (The Big Night Down the Drain), made that year, depicts a figure of indiscernible age with a cadaverous pallor and yellow splotches, brandishing an oversized phallus beneath a soot-black veil. —Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 30 Apr. 2026

Symptoms include pallor or loss of color in the skin, extreme tiredness, easy bruising, unusual bleeding, decreased urination or blood in the urine, swelling of the legs, confusion, seizures, stroke, and high blood pressure, the clinic states. —Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 9 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English pallour, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French palur, pallor "paleness, wanness, pale yellow color (of gold), borrowed from Latin pallor "paleness of complexion, loss of color," noun derivative, with the suffix -ōr-, -or (early Latin -ōs), from the base of pallēre "to be pale or bloodless, have a pale color," pallidus "pale, colorless" — more at fallow entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pallor

• calor
• salar
• valor
• valour

Kids Definition

pallor

noun

pal·​lor ˈpal-ər 

: paleness especially of the face

Medical Definition

pallor

noun

pal·​lor ˈpal-ər 

: deficiency of color especially of the face : paleness

patients in hemorrhagic shock may exhibit extreme pallor

—Scientific American Medicine