Word · Frequency #1899
grey
灰色的
of the colour grey
- 1.
Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
英联邦标准拼写,同gray。
阴沉的；英联邦标准拼写,同gray。
In use
The sky was grey and looked like rain.
She wore a grey coat to the meeting.
His hair is starting to turn grey.
grey + noun
grey作形容词时，通常放在名词前修饰。
He wore a grey suit.
他穿了一套灰色西装。
turn/become grey
也可用go grey，但较口语化。
Her hair turned grey early.
她的头发很早就变白了。
a shade of grey
grey作名词时，表示灰色这种颜色。
The room was decorated in various shades of grey.
房间用各种深浅不同的灰色装饰。
Common mistakes
The sky is grey colour.The sky is grey.
在英语中，描述颜色时直接用形容词grey，无需加colour，因为grey本身已表示颜色。中文直译的“灰色”在英语中结构不同。
His hair is graying.His hair is greying.
Grey的现在分词是greying，不是graying。注意英式拼写中保留e，而美式拼写graying对应的是gray。
Connections
Collocations
- grey hair
- 白发
- He has grey hair.他头发灰白了。
- grey sky
- 灰色的天空
- The sky is grey today.今天天空灰蒙蒙的。
- grey area
- 灰色地带
- This is a grey area in the law.这是法律上的灰色地带。
- turn grey
- 变成灰色
- His hair turned grey early.他的头发早早变白了。
- grey suit
- 灰色西装
- He wore a grey suit to the meeting.他穿了一套灰色西装去开会。
- grey matter
- 灰质
- The brain contains grey matter.
Learner notes
Memory Tip
灰色grey，联想‘灰蒙蒙’的天空，g像灰色云层，ray是微光。
Context & Register
中性或正式语境，常用于描述颜色、天气或情绪。多用于文学或正式写作，但口语中也常用。注：通常指中性灰色，不强调感情色彩。
Grammar Note
grey 作为形容词时，可用在系动词后作表语，或直接修饰名词作定语。
Pronunciation & Spelling
Words like hey, they, prey, sleigh, neigh rhyme with grey (all have /eɪ/ sound). Key looks similar but is pronounced /kiː/.
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。
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 5，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
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.