whites
B2Formal to Neutral (for laundry/sports contexts); Highly Offensive/Dated (for racial context).
Definition
Meaning
White-coloured items or materials, particularly referring to items of white clothing, fabric, or in various sports, a ball that is white.
Refers collectively to white-coloured items in specific contexts: 1) White laundry (clothes, bed linens, towels). 2) The white clothes worn in cricket, tennis, or other sports. 3) The white ball in snooker or pool. 4) (Archaic/Rare) White people as a group.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
The meaning is heavily dependent on context. The 'laundry' sense is common in domestic and commercial settings. The 'sports clothing' sense is domain-specific. The racial sense is now extremely rare and offensive in modern usage, found mainly in historical texts. The word is almost exclusively plural.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Both use 'whites' for laundry and sports. The term 'the whites' for laundry may be slightly more common in AmE. The sports clothing sense (esp. cricket 'whites') is strongly associated with BrE. The racial sense is equally archaic/offensive in both.
Connotations
Neutral for laundry/sports; Highly negative/offensive for racial context.
Frequency
Moderate frequency in laundry and specific sports contexts. Very low frequency otherwise.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
wash + the + whiteswear + (one's) + whitesseparate + the + whites + from + the coloursVocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Usage
Context Usage
Business
In laundry/dry-cleaning services: 'We offer a special treatment for your whites.'
Academic
Rare. Possibly in historical/sociological texts discussing outdated racial terminology.
Everyday
Domestic: 'Don't put that red sock in with the whites!'
Technical
Sports equipment/clothing: 'The club requires all players to have proper whites for matches.'
Examples
By CEFR Level
- I am washing the whites today.
- His cricket whites are very clean.
- Remember to wash the whites on a hot wash.
- The team's new whites were delivered yesterday.
- You should always separate your whites from colours to prevent dye transfer.
- He carefully packed his tennis whites for the Wimbledon qualifiers.
- The laundry's proprietary detergent is specifically formulated to keep whites brilliantly bright over multiple washes.
- Maintaining the pristine condition of one's cricket whites is considered a point of honour in the sport.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of a cricket player wearing all WHITE clothes – those are his WHITES. Or, imagine separating your white socks (WHITES) from your coloured t-shirts in the laundry basket.
Conceptual Metaphor
COLOUR FOR CATEGORY (The colour white metaphorically represents a category of items).
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Do not translate as 'белые' when referring to people, as this is an offensive calque. The Russian word 'бельё' (linen) is a closer conceptual match for the laundry sense, but 'whites' is more specific.
Common Mistakes
- Using 'whites' to refer to people in modern contexts (offensive).
- Using a singular form 'a white' for an item of clothing (incorrect; it's a plural noun).
- Confusing 'whites' (items) with 'white' (the colour).
Practice
Quiz
In which context would the word 'whites' be considered acceptable and neutral in modern English?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a plural noun. There is no singular form '*a white' used in this sense. You would say 'a white item' or 'a piece of white clothing'.
No. This usage is now considered archaic and highly offensive. Use terms like 'white people' if necessary, but the plural noun 'whites' in this context should be avoided.
'White' is the colour adjective. 'The whites' (with 'the' and plural -s) is a noun phrase referring to the category or pile of all white-coloured laundry items.
Primarily, but not exclusively. In laundry, it can include white bed linens, towels, and tablecloths. In other contexts, it refers to white sports balls (e.g., in pool).
Explore