pale faces
Wan, bloodless visages
Pale faces is a term, now dated and somewhat literary, for white people—especially as supposedly used by Native Americans in frontier-era American English.
The phrase appears frequently in old westerns and frontier fiction: The pale faces came from the east.
Outside this context, pale faces simply describes faces lacking color, whether from fear, illness, or naturally light complexion.
- complexionsFacial skin appearances
- skin toneBody's surface coloration
- alabasterTranslucent carving stone
- ivoryTusk-derived material
- wanPale and unwell-looking
settlers · frontier life · wild west · first contact · ashen · milk-white · ghastly · death warmed over · chalky · colonialism · bloodless · white as a sheet · fair-skinned · features · dread · scared stiff · terror · historical narratives
- Tim BurtonEdward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, Batman, Batman Returns
pale facesredskins
Ethnic slur, indigenous peoples
natives · Indians · indigenous peoples · Native Americans · First Nations
pale, pales, paled, paling, paleness, paler, palest, pallid, pallor