holly

Wikipedia

See also Holly, and holy

English

leaves and berries of European Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Etymology

From Middle English holly, holi, holie, a shortened variation of holin, holyn (> English dialectal hollen, holm), from Old English holeġn, holen (“holly; prince, protector”), from Proto-Germanic *hulisaz (“butcher's broom”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱol- (“thorn, awn; a kind of thorny plant; prickly”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cut”). Cognate with Scots holin, hollin, holyn (“holly”), Dutch hulst (“holly”), German Hulst (“holly”), French houx ("holly" < Germanic), Danish hylver (“holly”), Welsh celyn (“holly”), Russian колос (kolos, “ear of wheat”), Albanian kallí (“straw, chaff”), Sanskrit कटम्ब (kaṭamba, “arrow”), Old Church Slavonic класъ (klasŭ, “ear of grain”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈhɒli/
• Rhymes: -ɒli
• (US) IPA: /ˈhɑli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

holly (plural hollies)

1. Any of various shrubs or (mostly) small trees, of the genus Ilex, either evergreen or deciduous, used as decoration especially at Christmas.
2. The wood from this tree.
3. (with a qualifier) Any of several unrelated plant species likened to Ilex because of their prickly, evergreen foliage and/or round, bright-red berries

Derived terms

• sea holly
• Hollywood

Translations

any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex

• Catalan: grèvol (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎤᏍᏓᏍᏗ (chr) (usdasdi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冬青 (cmn) (dōngqīng)

• Czech: cesmína (cs) f
• Danish: kristtorn (da)
• Dutch: hulst (nl) m
• Esperanto: ilekso (eo)
• Estonian: iileks (et), astelpõõsas (et)
• Finnish: orjanlaakeri (fi)
• French: houx (fr) m
• Galician: acivro (gl) m
• German: Stechpalme (de) f, Hülse (de) f
• Greek: ίλεξ (el) (ílex)
• Hungarian: magyal (hu), krisztustövis (hu)
• Italian: agrifoglio (it) m
• Japanese: セイヨウヒイラギ (ja) (seiyōhiiragi), (a certain species) 犬黄楊 (ja) (いぬつげ, inutsuge), モチノキ (ja) (mochinogi)

• Jèrriais: housse m
• Latin: ilex (la)
• Lithuanian: bugienis (lt)
• Navajo: didzéłchííʼ
• Norwegian: kristtorn (no) m
• Old English: holeġn (ang)
• Persian: خاس (fa) (xas)
• Polish: ostrokrzew (pl) m
• Portuguese: azevinho (pt)
• Quechua: wayusa (qu), asiwu (qu)
• Romanian: ilice (ro)
• Russian: падуб (ru) (pádub) m
• Scottish Gaelic: cuileann (gd) m
• Spanish: acebo (es) m
• Swedish: järnek (sv)
• Tagalog: asebo (tl)
• Ukrainian: падуб (uk) (pádub)
• Welsh: celyn (cy), celynen (cy)