white-collar

See also: whitecollar and white collar

English

Alternative forms

• whitecollar, white collar

Etymology

From the colour of dress shirts worn by professional and clerical workers, as opposed to the rugged denim and chambray shirts normally worn by manual workers.

Pronunciation

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Adjective

white-collar (comparative more white-collar, superlative most white-collar)

1. Of or pertaining to office work and workers; contrasted with blue-collar.

   Synonym: (dated) black-coated

   • 1929 December, Betty Boone, “The Price of this Stardom”, in Screenland, page 22:

     This being a motion picture star is a real business. It's a job, and not always a white collar one, either.

2. Pertaining to the culture of white-collar workers, as values, politics, etc.; contrasted with blue-collar.

Derived terms

• white-collar boxing
• white-collar crime
• white-collar worker

 

Related terms

• blue-collar
• gray-collar
• grey-collar
• pink-collar

 

Descendants

• → Polish: białe kołnierzyki (calque)

Translations

of or pertaining to office work and workers

• Catalan: de guant blanc, de coll blanc
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 白領／白领 (zh) (báilǐng)

• Dutch: witteboorden-
• Finnish: valkokaulus-
• French: col blanc (fr)
• Georgian: საოფისე (saopise), საკანცელარიო (saḳancelario), თეთრსაყელოიანი (tetrsaq̇eloiani)
• Indonesian: kerah putih
• Japanese: ホワイトカラー (howaito karā)
• Korean: 화이트칼라 (ko) (hwaiteukalla)
• Macedonian: канцела́риски (kanceláriski)
• Portuguese: de/do colarinho branco
• Russian: канцеля́рский (ru) (kanceljárskij), конто́рский (ru) (kontórskij), о́фисный (ru) (ófisnyj), «чи́стый» (ru) («čístyj»), «бе́лый воротничо́к» m («bélyj vorotničók») (noun)
• Welsh: coler wen f