dye

• IPA^(key): /daɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: die, Di, Dai, dy

From Middle English deye, from Old English dēah, dēag (“color, hue, dye”), from Proto-West Germanic *daugu (“colour, shade”), from *daugan (“to conceal, be dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust, camouflage”).

• (obsolete) die

dye (countable and uncountable, plural dyes)

1. A colourant, especially one that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is applied.
2. Any hue or color.

• colourant
• tincture

• diolistic

• ink

Fom Middle English deien, from Old English dēagian, from the noun.

dye (third-person singular simple present dyes, present participle dyeing or (now nonstandard) dying, simple past and past participle dyed)

1. (ambitransitive) To colour with dye, or as if with dye.

   You look different. Have you had your hair dyed?

   • 1705, anonymous translator, “Part. XI. Of the Dying of Thread, and Cloth made of Hemp, Flax or Cotten, with whatever is necessary to the perfection of Silk Dying, and the making and Dying of Hats.”, in The Whole Art of Dying. […], London: […] William Pearson, and sold by J[ohn] Nutt, […], →OCLC, section CCXLIX, page 300:

     But tho’ Black cannot be Dyed to the laſt perfection either in Wool or Hair without Woad, the Hatters have quite left off their accuſtomed uſe of it in the Dying of Hatts, and believe at the ſame time, that too ſtrong a Black makes the Hairs or Nap fall off, which is very neceſſary for the ſale and beauty of the Hatts, though this rather proceeds from the hand of the Workman that dreſſes them than in Dying them, or the Hairs not being ſufficiently fulled, or ſtrongly enough united to the felt; […]

   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 164:

     If indeed sharks were inclined to eat people, the world's oceans would be dyed crimson with the blood of millions.

   • 2023 January 24, Brianna Reeves, “Minecraft 1.20 update to make major changes to netherite and gold”, in Dexerto‎^[1]:

     From there, customization simply becomes a matter of crafting trims at a smithing table, then dyeing them “using gems and ingots like diamonds, copper, and netherite.”

   • 2025 August 12, Evelyn, “Creative Guide to Dyeing Clothes Naturally with Fruits and Vegetables at Home”, in DHgate.com‎^[2], archived from the original on 30 October 2025:

     I found this 4-500 Mesh Nylon Strainer Flour Sieve handy and budget-friendly, especially for those who dye often and want to keep solids out of their pots effortlessly.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:dye.

• (to color): tint, stain, shade, streak

dye (plural dyce)

1. Archaic spelling of die (“a cube used in games of chance”).
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 72:

     The Superficies was compoſed of ſeveral bits of Wood, about the bigneſs of a Dye, but ſome larger than others.

   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 46:

     If a dye were marked with one figure or number of spots on four sides, and with another figure or number of spots on the two remaining sides, it would be more probable, that the former would turn up than the latter;

• Dey, dey, ye'd, yed

Forms a transitive/intransitive pair with tyeh (“to finish”).

• (Myanmar) /dʲɛ˧/

dye

1. to finish, complete

• Inglis, Douglas; Sampu, Nasaw; Jaseng, Wilai; Jana, Thocha (2005), A preliminary Ngochang–Kachin–English Lexicon‎^[3], Payap University, page 29

dye

1. plural of dy

• IPA^(key): [dʲe]

dye

1. dance

• Bassa-English Dictionary

From French dieu (“god”).

• IPA^(key): /dje/

dye

1. god

dye

1. alternative form of deye (“dye”)

dye

1. alternative form of deyen (“to die”)

dye

1. alternative form of deyen (“to dye”)