iris

See also Iris, and íris

English

Iris on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin, from Ancient Greek ἶρις (iris, “rainbow”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyro- (“a twist, thread, cord, wire”), from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, twist, weave, plait”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: ī'rĭs, IPA: /ˈaɪɹɪs/, X-SAMPA: /"aIrIs/
• Rhymes: -aɪɹɪs

Noun

A plant of the genus, Iris.

Illustration showing parts of the human eye, including the iris.

iris (plural irises or iris or irides) (See Usage notes)

1. (botany) A plant of the genus Iris, common in the northern hemisphere, and generally having attractive blooms (Wikipedia).
   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 5, The Younger Set^[1]:

     Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume ; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of rose-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees ; … .

2. (anatomy) The contractile membrane perforated by the pupil, which adjusts to control the amount of light reaching the retina, and which forms the colored portion of the eye (Wikipedia).
3. (photography, cinematography) A diaphragm used to regulate the size of a hole, especially as a way of controlling the amount of light reaching a lens.
4. (poetic) A rainbow, or other colourful refraction of light.
5. (electronics) A constricted opening in the path inside a waveguide, used to form a resonator.

Translations

plant of the genus Iris

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鳶尾花 (cmn), 鸢尾花 (cmn) (yuānwěi huā)

• Czech: kosatec (cs) m
• Danish: iris (da) c
• Dutch: iris (nl) m and f
• Faroese: mækja (fo) f
• Finnish: kurjenmiekka (fi)
• French: iris (fr) m
• Georgian: ზამბახი (ka) (zambaxi)
• German: Iris (de) f, Schwertlilie (de) f
• Greek: ίρις (el) (íris) f
• Italian: iris (it) m, giaggiolo (it) m
• Japanese: あやめ (ja) (ayame), 菖蒲 (ja) (しょうぶ, shōbu)
• Korean: 붓꽃 (ko) (butggot), 창포 (ko) (changpo)

• Macedonian: перуника (mk) (perúnika) f, ирис (mk) (íris) m
• Polish: irys (pl) m
• Portuguese: íris (pt) m
• Romanian: iris (ro) m, stânjen (ro) m, stânjenel (ro) m
• Russian: ирис (ru) (íris) m, касатик (ru) (kasátik) m
• Scottish Gaelic: seileastair (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: iris (sh), perunika (sh)
• Slovene: perunika (sl) f
• Spanish: lirio (es) m
• Swahili: airisi (sw)
• Swedish: iris (sv) c
• Telugu: కంటిపాప (te) (kaMTipaapa)
• Vietnamese: diên vĩ (vi)

part of the eye

• Arabic: قزحية (ar) (quzaḥiya) f

  Egyptian Arabic: قزحية (quzaḥeya) f, سواد العين (sawaad el-ʕein) m

• Armenian: ծիածանաթաղանթ (hy) (çiaçanat’aġant’)
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: မျက်ဝန်း (my) (mye'-wún), မျက်နက် (my) (mye'-ne')
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 虹膜 (cmn) (hóngmó)

• Czech: duhovka (cs) f
• Danish: regnbuehinde (da), iris (da) c
• Dutch: regenboogvlies (nl) n, iris (nl) m and f
• Faroese: lithinna (fo) f
• Finnish: värikalvo (fi)
• French: iris (fr) m
• Georgian: თვალის გარსი (ka) (t'valis garsi), ფერადი გარსი (ka) (p'eradi garsi)
• German: Iris (de) f, Regenbogenhaut (de) f
• Greek: ίρις (el) (íris) f
• Hungarian: szivárványhártya (hu)

• Italian: iride (it) f
• Japanese: 虹彩 (ja) (こうさい, kōsai)
• Korean: 홍채 (ko) (hongchae)
• Latvian: varavīksnene (lv) f
• Macedonian: рожница (mk) (róžnica) f, шареница (mk) (šarénica) f
• Navajo: anázhiin
• Persian: عنبیه (fa) ('enabiye)
• Polish: tęczówka (pl) f
• Portuguese: íris (pt) m
• Romanian: iris (ro) n
• Russian: радужная оболочка (ru) (rádužnaja obolóčka) f, ирис (ru) (íris) m
• Serbo-Croatian: iris (sh), šarenica (sh), dužica (sh) f
• Slovene: šarenica (sl) f
• Spanish: iris (es) m
• Swedish: iris (sv) c
• Turkish: iris (tr)
• Volapük: lirid (vo)

photography, cinematography: diaphragm

• Finnish: himmennin (fi), aukko (fi)
• French: iris (fr) m

• Romanian: iris (ro) n
• Serbo-Croatian: blenda (sh)

Derived terms

• iridal
• iridial
• iridian
• iridium
• iridocyclitis
• iridology
• Iris (proper name)
• iritis

Usage notes

For the part of the eye, the usual medical plural is irides.
For the flower both iris and irises are in common use.

Quotations

plural iris

						1989 1996	2004
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1989, Ann Lovejoy, The Year in Bloom [2]

  Is there anything more spectacular than the bearded iris in their short season?

• 1996, Katherine Grace Endicott, Northern California Gardening [3]

  Tall bearded iris are in bloom now.

• 2004, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, A Garden for Life [4]

  The bulbous iris are important because their early flowers provide a food source for bees and early flying insects.

plural irides

					1843	1989	2001
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

  In colour the irides are straw-yellow, the pupils black; forehead, nape, and back, very dark bluish-black; [...]

• 1989, Robert S Ridgely, The Birds of South America [5]

  As in the caciques, bills are sharply pointed and pale, while irides are usually pale blue.

• 2001, John V Forrester et al., The Eye [6]

  Later in life brown irides are the result of heavily pigmented melanocytes within the stroma.

plural irises

						1987 2000	2002
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1987, Pamela Harper, Frederick McGourty, Perennials [7]

  Tall bearded irises are easy to grow but not always easy to grow well.

• 2000, Kevin C Voughn, Louisiana Iris [8]

  Most iris lovers feel that Louisiana irises are now large enough.

• 2002, John E Bryan, Bulbs [9]

  All these irises are sold as dry, dormant bulbs in fall.

See also

• Iris (plant)
• Iris (anatomy)

Verb

iris (third-person singular simple present irises, present participle irising, simple past and past participle irised)

1. (of an aperture, lens, or door) To open or close in the manner of an iris.

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Esperanto

Verb

iris

1. past of iri

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

iris m (plural iris)

1. iris

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Indonesian

Noun

iris

1. slice

Verb

mengiris

1. to slice

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Irish

Noun

iris f

1. magazine, journal
2. gazette

Declension

Declension of iris

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative iris irisí Vocative a iris a irisí Genitive irise irisí Dative iris irisí

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an iris na hirisí Genitive na hirise na n-irisí Dative leis an iris don iris leis na hirisí

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
iris	n-iris	hiris	t-iris
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Synonyms

• (magazine, journal): irisleabhar

Derived terms

• iriseoir

Related terms

• iriseoireacht

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Italian

Noun

iris m and f (invariable)

1. iris (flower)

Synonyms

• giaggiolo, iride

Anagrams

• risi

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Latin

Noun

īrīs

1. dative plural of īra
2. ablative plural of īra

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Scottish Gaelic

Noun

iris f (genitive irise, plural irisean)

1. magazine, periodical

Synonyms

• ràitheachan

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Spanish

Noun

iris m (plural iris or iríses)

1. (anatomy) iris

Derived terms

• arco iris