Ashen describes the pale, grayish-white color of ashes, especially when talking about someone's face or skin. When a person looks ashen, they've gone pale from shock, fear, illness, or exhaustion. Picture someone who just heard terrible news: the blood drains from their face, leaving them looking almost gray. That's ashen.

You might read that a character in a story turned ashen when they saw a ghost, or that a sick patient had an ashen complexion. The word captures the dull, lifeless gray of cold ashes from a fire that's burned out, suggesting both paleness and a loss of vitality.

An ashen sky might look heavy and gray before a storm. Ashen wood describes timber that's weathered to a silvery-gray color. But most commonly, you'll encounter this word describing how people look when something has frightened or shocked them so badly that they seem to have lost their natural color and warmth.