What do you think of the word "sallow"?

[Corolla]

I have what I would consider sallow skin, by which I mean sort of the yellow side of olive! I don't think of "sallow" as a complimentary word.

Yet recently I've come across it being used in a flattering sense, eg "beautiful sallow skin". How do you interpret it?

I think of Mary Lennox too! A white skinned English person looking jaundiced and unwell.

Although if the description read "lovely sallow skin", I'd be thinking of a healthy looking olive skinned person with glowing complexion. It's not a term I'd use for a well looking person though

I have olive skin but I'm aging now and it is sallow I'm not unhealthy just a bit older I don't see it as a flaw.

My first thought before opening the thread was also Professor Snape.

I thought you were going to say it was your new daughter's name and you couldn't understand why no-one liked it, after you'd had so many compliments when her little brother, Swarthy was born.

I'm in Scotland and would agree with the Irish folk. I take it to mean not as peelly wally as the rest of us, having a nice slight olive undertone.

Yeah I'm Irish and we use it to mean you won't burn to a crisp looking through the window at the sun, it's enviable

I'm another who wouldn't read it as a compliment so interesting to hear it's different in Ireland/Scotland.

For me sallow would be used as a temporary state for someone unwell or unhealthy (like Mary Lennox), whereas someone with natural yellow toned skin would be olive, possibly tan/tanned.

Sallow is my skin at this time of year, as it’s olive and hasn’t had much sun lately. I don’t think it’s a complement or attractive!

Like @EL8888, I'd describe my skin as sallow and I have the same problem! In the summer I tan easily and have a lovely olive colour (if I do say so myself), but over the winter I tend to go a bit yellowy-grey and unhealthy looking!

Pale yellow complexion, unhealthy

Another person who immediately thought of Snape - he was described as having sallow skin and greasy hair, not a complimentary picture.

I agree with your definition OP. My skin is sallow, and trust me it's not good.

I was described as having sallow skin by my mother because I didn't have the desired rosy cheeks that 'healthy' children have. She put it down to either constipation or always having my nose in a book. Apparently, when I was a baby, people would ask if I had been ill, so she resorted to putting a dab of rouge on my cheeks before taking me out.

I think of it as olive-toned skin that's in an unhealthy state. I look sallow when I haven't been eating and sleeping properly. I've got Mediterranean sort of colouring, olive-toned, pale but tan easily.

@Watercoloursky that’s me in a nut shell!

As you describe but not s comment. Has a negative connotation.

In the Darling Buds of May books the extremely attractive Larkin girls are described as sallow.

Yes, also Irish and it is used as a compliment here !

Isn't language strange in that the same word can have 2 opposite meanings!

I m Scottish I wonder if it's the same compliment here as in Ireland ?

Where I come from it would actually be a beautiful thing. We would say 'she is stunning! Brown eyes, sallow skin'. It means slightly tanned, usually a healthy Mediterranean look. Maybe it's because most people where I come from are pale and dont look particularly healthy.

I'm glad I know now about the two different meanings. I could have caused all sorts of upset! Thank you for enlightening me!

@Corolla

Interesting that in Ireland it's a compliment. Maybe the books I've read it in were written by Irish authors.

This is a bit extreme but this is more or less how I see sallow.

Sallow means yellow and is a really racist way to describe asian people.

Sallow is an tan complexion after the winter- a faded tan. Mary in the secret garden is sallow because she was tanned in India, but in England she doesn't get any sun so she's sallow.