blêmir

to whiten; to become pale; to blanch

Inherited from Middle French blêmir, from Old French blemir, blesmir, from Frankish *blesmijan, *blasmijan (“to grow pale; make pale”), from Proto-Germanic *blasaz (“shining, white, fair, pale”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to shine, be white”). Cognate with Old High German blas (“white; having a blaze”) and English blaze.