ingiallire

Ingiallire is an Italian verb meaning to turn yellow or to cause something to turn yellow. It describes a color change resulting in a yellowish coloration in organic or inorganic materials, such as leaves, paper, textiles, or wood, typically due to aging, exposure to light, heat, or chemical treatment. The term can be used both intransitively (le foglie iniziano a ingiallire) and transitively (ingiallire qualcosa).

Etymologically, ingiallire derives from giallo, the Italian word for yellow, with the standard -ire verb ending. It is treated as a regular -ire verb in conjugation, following the general patterns of Italian second-conjugation verbs, though precise forms are not listed here. The past participle is ingiallito and is used in compound tenses, as in le foglie si sono ingiallite, to indicate a completed whitening or yellowing.

In usage, ingiallire is common in botanical and conservation contexts to describe natural color change in leaves or papers, as well as in discussions of aging, degradation, or dyeing processes. It can also appear in literary or descriptive prose to convey aging, deterioration, or the passage of time through the imagery of yellowing. While many languages express this idea with direct equivalents of “to turn yellow,” ingiallire provides a precise Italian term for this specific color-change phenomenon.

Overall, ingiallire is a typical Italian verb of everyday utility for describing yellowing phenomena in nature, materials, and metaphorical language.