LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
adjectivefirst/second-declension adjective

flāvus

flāvus (feminine flāva, neuter flāvum, comparative flāvior, superlative flāvissimus)
Classical[ˈfɫaː.wʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈflaː.vus]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. adjectivepoeticusuallyyellow (originally in prose of ripe barley and wheat)
  2. adjectivepoeticblond, pale-(haired)
  3. adjectivearchaicwhite
    [crīnēs] flāuō cinere ūnctitābant ut rutilī essentThey (viz. married women) would use pale ash (i.e. lye) on their hair to bleach it (lye from well-burned, white ash is aggressive and discolors the hair when applied to it)234 BCE – 149 BCE, Marcus Porcius Cato, fragments
  4. adjectivepoeticclear
    Cedo tuom pedem , lumpīs flāuīs fuluom ut puluerem / manibus īsdem, quibus Vlixī saepe permulsī, abluam, / lassitūdinemque minuam manuom mollitūdine.Give your foot, so that with pale waters I may wash away the bright dirt from it with the same hands with which I have often rubbed Ulysses' feet, and ease the weariness with my hands' softness.220 BCE – 130 BCE, Pacuvius, Tragedies Niptra
  5. adjectivepoeticpale green
    Verrunt extemplō placidum mare: marmore flāuō / caeruleum spūmat mare cōnfertā rate pulsumPresently they sweep the calm sea: with pale marble / the deep blue sea foams pushed by the loaded craft.239 BCE – 169 BCE, Ennius, Annales (NB: Aulus Gellius transmits a commentary on this passage where Roman men of letters consider the word not to mean "yellow")
  6. adjectiveblushing, red

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

colōre aurī et frūmentī mātūrī; capillī flāvī.
flāvus -a -um — in Mille Verba, Colōrēs

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Luteus · Gilvus · Helvus · Flavus · Luridus

Luteus (from λωτός) denotes a decided yellow, as the yolk of an egg; gilvus, (ἀγλαός) and helvus, a fainter reddish yellow, like that of honey; flavus and luridus, a lighter whitish yellow; flavus (from φλεύω) a glossy beautiful yellow, like that of light auburn hair; luridus (from χλωρός) a wan unpleasant yellowishness, like that of pale death.

Declension

singular
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativeflāvusflāvaflāvum
genitiveflāvīflāvaeflāvī
dativeflāvōflāvaeflāvō
accusativeflāvumflāvamflāvum
ablativeflāvōflāvāflāvō
vocativeflāveflāvaflāvum
plural
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativeflāvīflāvaeflāva
genitiveflāvōrumflāvārumflāvōrum
dativeflāvīsflāvīsflāvīs
accusativeflāvōsflāvāsflāva
ablativeflāvīsflāvīsflāvīs
vocativeflāvīflāvaeflāva

flāvus, a, um, adj. for flag-vus from FLAG, flagro, burning, light-colored,
I. golden yellow, reddish yellow, flaxen-colored, ξανθός (mostly poet.): color, Col. 4, 3, 4: mellis dulci flavoque liquore, Lucr. 1, 938; 4, 13: mella, Mart. 1, 56, 10: aurum, Verg. A. 1, 592: Ceres, id. G. 1, 96; cf. of the same: et te, flava comas, frugum mitissima mater, Ov. M. 6, 118: mare marmore flavo, Enn. ap. Gell. 2, 26 (Ann. v. 377 ed. Vahl.): arva, Verg. G. 1, 316: crines, id. A. 12, 605: coma, Hor. C. 1, 5, 4; cf.: Galanthis flava comas, Ov. M. 9, 307: flavus comarum Curio, Sil. 9, 414: Ganymedes, Hor. C. 4, 4, 4: Phyllis, id. ib. 2, 4, 14: Chloë, id. ib. 3, 9, 19: Tiberis, reddish yellow (from the puzzolan earth on its ground), id. ib. 1, 2, 13; 1, 8, 8; 2, 3, 18: Tiberinus multa flavus harena, Verg. A. 7, 31; Ov. M. 14, 447: Lycormas, id. ib. 2, 245: pudor, blushing, Sen. Hippol. 652: capillus in flavum colorem, Vulg. Lev. 13, 36; 30.— Subst.: an de moneta Caesaris decem flavos, gold pieces (cf. Engl. yellow-boys), Mart. 12, 65, 6.—Comp.: flavior, Boëth. ap. Porphyr. Dial. 2, p. 31.

Origins

Uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Italic *flāwos. The term is often compared with Proto-Germanic *blēwaz and Proto-Celtic *blāwos, though it is difficult to reconstruct a single pre-form underlying all of these terms. De Vaan suggests that, should the Germanic and Celtic comparison be rejected, it is possible to reconstruct a pre-form *bʰl̥h₁wós. Alternatively, Schrijver suggests a connection with flōs, perhaps indicating a pre-form *bʰleh₃-wo-, which could explain the Germanic and Celtic forms if a delabialization of *bʰleh₃- to *bʰleh_(1/2)- is presumed. Such a development is, however, highly speculative. Kroonen argues that the Germanic and Italo-Celtic forms may be unified under a single ablauting PIE u-stem *bʰléh₁-us ~ *bʰl̥h₁-wόs. However, Matasović suggests that the only possible means of connecting the Germanic to the Italo-Celtic terms would be to posit a vrddhi form *bʰlēh₂wo-, which he considers to be an ad hoc and speculative assertion.

Elsewhere
  • Italianflavo
  • Portugueseflavo
  • Spanishflavo
  • Neapolitanjavolofrom Late Latin flāvulus
  • Esperantoflava
  • Idoflava
Uncertain
  • Frenchflou

In English words that came into English from flāvus

  • flavonoidflāvus
  • flavedoflāvēdō
  • flavescenceflavescens
  • flavescentflavescens
  • flavoneflāvus
  • flavidflāvidus
  • flavanilineflāvus

Quick answers

What does flāvus mean in Latin?
flāvus, a adjective, means “yellow (originally in prose of ripe barley and wheat); blond, pale-(haired); white”.
How do you pronounce flāvus?
In classical Latin, [ˈfɫaː.wʊs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈflaː.vus].
Which English words come from flāvus?
English words that go back to Latin flāvus include flavonoid, flavone, flavaniline, flavedo, flavescence and flavescent.