bulb

English

Flowers growing from a bulb (lower left).

Etymology

From Middle French bulbe, from Latin bulbus (“bulb, onion”), from Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbos, “plant with round swelling on underground stem”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: bʌlb, boʊlb

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlb, -oʊlb

Noun

bulb (plural bulbs)

1. Any solid object rounded at one end and tapering on the other, possibly attached to a larger object at the tapered end
2. A light bulb
3. The bulb-shaped root portion of a plant such as a tulip, from which the rest of the plant may be regrown.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 265c.

     the plants which grow in the earth from seed or bulbs.

Related terms

terms related to bulb

bulbiferous bulbil

bulbous

Derived terms

terms derived from bulb

lampbulb light bulb

flash bulb tulip bulb

Translations

rounded solid object

Finnish: kupu (fi) French: bulbe (fr) m. Greek: βολβός (el) (volvós) m. Indonesian: bola lampu (id), lampu pijar (id), bohlam (id)

Luhya: eglopu Portuguese: bulbo (pt) m. Romanian: bulb (ro) m. Spanish: cormo (es) m. Swahili: glopu (sw)

light bulb — see light bulb

bulb-shaped root

Bulgarian: луковица (ru) (lúkovica) f. Czech: bulva (cs) f., hlíza (cs) f. Finnish: sipuli (fi) French: bulbe (fr) m. Greek: βολβός (el) (volvós) m. Hungarian: virághagyma (hu) Italian: bulbo (it) m. Japanese: 球根 (きゅうこん, kyūkon) Korean: 알뿌리 albburi Malay: bebawang (ms)

Polish: cebulka (pl) f. Portuguese: bulbo (pt) m. Romanian: bulb (ro) m. Russian: луковица (ru) (lúkovica) f. Scottish Gaelic: bolgan (gd) m. Serbian: čebuljica f. Slovene: čebulica f. Spanish: bulbo (es) m. Swahili: glopu (sw) Swedish: lök (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Ido: bulbo Telugu: బల్బు (balbu), దీపము(dIpamu), బుడ్డి (buDDi)

Anagrams

• blub