Did You Know?
"Glaucous" came to English, by way of Latin "glaucus," from Greek "glaukos," meaning "gleaming" or "gray." It has been used for a range of pale colors from a yellow-green to a bluish-gray. The word has often been used to describe the pale color of the leaves of various plants as well as the powdery bloom that can be found on some fruits and leaves. The stem "glauc-" appears in some other English words, the most familiar of which is probably "glaucoma," referring to a disease of the eye that can result in gradual loss of vision. "Glauc-" also appears in the not-so-familiar "glaucope," a word used to describe someone with fair hair and blue eyes (and a companion to "cyanope," the term for someone with fair hair and brown eyes).