Resembling ash in color (pale gray or whitish) or containing, covered with, or consisting of ash.
From ash (Old English æsce) plus the adjective suffix -y (Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-ig). The term has been used since Old English to describe ash-colored or ash-containing things.
The word 'ashy' appears in countless literary descriptions because ash-gray is one of nature's most universal colors—from clouds to beaches to faces of the shocked or sick!
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