periwinkle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹɪwɪŋk(ə)l/
• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹiˌwɪŋkəl/

Etymology 1

Diminutive of Middle English perwinke, from Old English perfince, perwince (compare Middle High German berwinke), from Latin pervinca (compare French pervenche, Italian pervinca), of unknown origin.

Noun

periwinkle (plural periwinkles)

1. Any of several evergreen plants of the genus Vinca with blue or white flowers. [from 10th c.]
   • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society 2007, p. 220:

     The Periwinkle is a great binder, staying bleeding both at mouth and nose if some of the leaves be chewed.

2. Similar plants of genus Catharanthus.
3. A color with bluish and purplish hues, somewhat light.

   periwinkle:  

Synonyms

• (Vinca): myrtle, vinca, creeping myrtle

Derived terms

• blue periwinkle ()
• common periwinkle ()
• bigleaf periwinkle ()
• greater periwinkle ()
• herbaceous periwinkle ()
• large periwinkle ()
• Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
• rose periwinkle rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
• periwinkled
• periwinkling
• periwinkler

Translations

plant

• Belarusian: барве́нак m (barvjénak)
• Bulgarian: зимзелен m (zimzelen)
• Catalan: vinca f, pervinca f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蔓長春花／蔓长春花 (mànchángchūnhuā), 蔓长春花 (mànchángchūnhuā)

• Czech: barvínek m, brčál (cs) m
• Esperanto: vinko
• Finnish: talvio (fi)
• French: pervenche (fr) f
• Galician: cangroia f
• German: Immergrün (de) n, Singrün n
• Greek:

  Ancient: χαμαιδάφνη f (khamaidáphnē)

• Hebrew: וינקה f (vínka)
• Hungarian: mirtusz (hu)
• Ido: pervinko (io)
• Irish: fincín m, bláth na faochan m
• Italian: pervinca (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ツルニチニチソウ (tsurunichinisō), ニチニチソウ (nichinichisō)
• Kazakh: қабыршөп (qabyrşöp)
• Latin: pervinca f
• Norman: bliuette f, pèrvenche f
• Polish: barwinek m
• Portuguese: pervinca f
• Romanian: saschiu (ro) m, pervincă f
• Russian: барви́нок (ru) m (barvínok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: зи̏мзеле̄н m

  Roman: zȉmzelēn (sh) m

• Slovene: zimzelen (sl) m
• Spanish: vinca
• Ukrainian: барві́нок (uk) m (barvínok)
• Welsh: perfagl m or f

colour

• French: pervenche (fr) f
• Hungarian: babakék
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pervinca (it) m

Adjective

periwinkle (comparative more periwinkle, superlative most periwinkle)

1. Of pale bluish purple colour.

Translations

colour

• Hungarian: babakék
• Ido: pervinkea
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pervinca (it)

See also

• vinblastine
• vincristine
• Appendix:Colors

References

• Vinca on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Catharanthus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Vinca on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Catharanthus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Vinca on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Catharanthus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• periwinkle (color) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Periwinkle emerging from its shell

From Middle English [Term?], alteration of *pinewinkle (compare English dialectal pennywinkle), from Old English pīnewincle, compound of Latin pīna (“kind of mussel”), itself from Ancient Greek πίνη (pínē), variant of πίννα (pínna, “mussel”)) and Old English wincel (“corner”) (compare dialectal Danish vinkel (“snail shell”)). More at winch and wink.

Noun

periwinkle (plural periwinkles)

1. A mollusk of family Littorinidae.

Synonyms

• (mollusk): winkle

Derived terms

• checkered periwinkle ()
• common periwinkle ()
• flat periwinkle ()
• rough periwinkle ()

Translations

mollusc

• Breton: bigorn (br) m
• Dutch: alikruik (nl) m or f
• French: bigorneau (fr) m, vigneau (fr) m, vignot (fr) m
• Galician: bígaro (gl) m, caramuxo (gl) m
• German: Uferschnecke f
• Hungarian: meténg (hu)
• Irish: faocha f, gioradán m, miongán m
• Italian: litorina f, littorale f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: タマキビガイ (tamakibigai)
• Maori: ngaeti, mākerekere, matatangata, mātangata, ataata (mi)
• Norman: v'licot m (Jersey)
• Portuguese: litorina f
• Romanian: litorină f
• Russian: литори́на (ru) f (litorína)
• Spanish: bigarro (es) m

Further reading

• Littorinidae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Littorinidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Littorinidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

References

• “periwinkle”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.