Word · Frequency #5464
gray
变成灰色
turn grey
不及物动词，表示自身变为灰色。
- 1.
make grey
使变灰；使成灰色
- 2.
turn grey
变灰
使变成灰色；使变灰；使成灰色；变灰；(使)变灰色
In use
The sky grayed as the storm clouds moved in.
His hair has grayed a little since we last met.
The artist grayed the background to make the flowers stand out.
gray sth
gray 作及物动词，表示“使……变成灰色”；常用于自然力量或时间造成的变化。
The rain grayed the old wooden fence.
雨水把旧木栅栏变成了灰色。
sth grays
gray 作不及物动词，表示“变成灰色”；主语是本身变灰的事物。
The sky often grays before a storm.
暴风雨来临前，天空常常变成灰色。
be graying
进行时 be graying 强调逐渐变灰、变白的过程，常指头发或人的外貌变化。
Her hair is graying.
她的头发正在变白。
Verb forms
base gray · third person grays · -ing graying · past grayed · past participle grayed
gray 作动词表示（使）变灰，尤指头发变白；美式拼写 gray，英式拼写 grey。
Common mistakes
His hair has gray since he was young.His hair has grayed since he was young.
现在完成时 has 后须接过去分词；gray 作动词意为“变灰”，其过去分词是 grayed，不能用形容词 gray 代替。
His hair gray quickly with age.His hair grays quickly with age.
主语 his hair 是第三人称单数，一般现在时动词要加 -s；汉语没有这一变化，因此容易漏掉。
Connections
Collocations
- gray at the temples
- 两鬓变灰
- He was graying at the temples.他的两鬓渐渐变白了。
- gray prematurely
- 过早变灰
- Her hair grayed prematurely.她的头发过早变白了。
- gray with age
- 随年龄增长而变灰
- His beard grayed with age.他的胡须随年龄增长而变白了。
- graying hair
- 花白的头发
- His graying hair made him look older.他花白的头发让他显得更老。
Idioms & figurative uses
- gray out
- （因眩晕或缺氧）眼前发黑、失去知觉；使（控件）变灰无效When I stood up too quickly, everything grayed out and I nearly fainted.我猛然站起来时，眼前一片发黑，差点晕倒。
Learner notes
Memory Tip
把gray联想成grey的美式拼写，想象黑发渐成灰白，动词gray就是“变灰、使变灰”。
Context & Register
语域：neutral 常见场景：describing hair turning gray、describing materials or colors becoming gray gray 作动词时通常描述头发变白或颜色逐渐变灰，多用于日常口语和一般书面语，没有明显的正式或非正式倾向，属于中性表达。
Pronunciation & Spelling
这些词都与 gray 的韵脚 /eɪ/ 完全匹配：day、way、say、play、stay、pray 都押韵。注意不要被拼写误导：gravy /ˈɡreɪvi/、grass /ɡræs/、grayish /ˈɡreɪɪʃ/ 虽然以 gra 开头，但发音与 gray 并不完全押韵。
High-value vocabulary
该词属于 Oxford 核心词汇，值得优先掌握常见搭配和句型。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.