bleak

Etymology 1

From Middle English bleke (also bleche, whence the English doublet bleach (“pale, bleak”)), and bleike (due to Old Norse), and earlier Middle English blak, blac (“pale, wan”), from Old English blǣc, blǣċ, blāc (“bleak, pale, pallid”) and Old Norse bleikr (“pale, whitish”), all from Proto-Germanic *blaikaz (“pale, shining”). Cognate with Dutch bleek (“pale, wan, pallid”), Low German blek (“pale”), German bleich (“pale, wan, sallow”), Danish bleg (“pale”), Swedish blek (“pale, pallid”), Norwegian Bokmål bleik, blek (“pale”), Norwegian Nynorsk bleik (“pale”), Faroese bleikur (“pale”), Icelandic bleikur (“pale, pink”).

adj

1. Without color; pale; pallid.
2. Desolate and exposed; swept by cold winds.
   a bleak and bare rock    a bleak, crater-pocked moonscape
   They escaped across the bleak landscape.
   We hiked across open meadows and climbed bleak mountains.
   Wastes too bleak to rear / The common growth of earth, the foodful ear. 1793, William Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches
3. Unhappy; cheerless; miserable; emotionally desolate.
   Downtown Albany felt bleak that February after the divorce.
   A bleak future is in store for you.
   The news is bleak.
   The survey paints a bleak picture.
   Dany didn’t necessarily have to die, but letting her live would’ve been an assessment of humanity so bleak that even George R.R. Martin, it seems, wants to hope for something better. 19 May 2019, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club

Etymology 2

From Middle English bleke (“small river fish, bleak, blay”), perhaps an alteration (due to English blǣc (“bright”) or Old Norse bleikja) of Old English blǣġe (“bleak, blay, gudgeon”); or perhaps from a diminutive of Middle English *bleye (“blay”), equivalent to blay + -ock or blay + -kin. See blay.

noun

1. A small European river fish (Alburnus alburnus), of the family Cyprinidae.