Olive

See also: olive

English

Etymology

Medieval form of the Latin saint's name Oliva "olive"; revived in the 19th century when flower and plant names became fashionable. The surname is topographical, often representing an Anglicization of continental European surnames such as Spanish Oliva.

Proper noun

Olive

1. A female given name.
   • 1842 Alfred Tennyson, The Talking Oak:

     And hear me swear a solemn oath, / That only by thy side / Will I to Olive plight my troth, / And gain her for my bride.

   • 1850 Dinah Craik, Olive, Chapman and Hall, page 26:

     "Elspie, I have a thought! The baby shall be christened Olive!"

     "It's a strange, heathen name, Mrs. Rothesay."

     "Not at all. Listen how I chanced to think of it. This very morning, just before you came to waken me, I had such a queer, delicious dream. [ - - - ] Then I looked up, after awhile, and saw standing at the foot of the bed a little angel—a child-angel—with a green olive-branch in its hand. [ - - - ] "

   • 2006 Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock, Chatto & Windus, ISBN 0701179899, pages 227-228:

     There was Olive, a soft drowsy girl who didn't like me because I called her Olive Oyl. Even after I was made to apologize she didn't like me.

2. A surname​.
3. (rare) A male given name.

Related terms

• Olivia

Anagrams

• lovie, voile

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈliːvə/
• IPA^(key): /oˈliːfə/ (Austrian)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Olive f (genitive Olive, plural Oliven)

1. olive (fruit)

Declension

Declension of Olive

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Olive	die	Oliven
genitive	einer	der	Olive	der	Oliven
dative	einer	der	Olive	den	Oliven
accusative	eine	die	Olive	die	Oliven

Derived terms

Derived terms

• grauoliv
• oliv
• Olivenbaum
• Olivenblätter

• olivenfarben
• olivenfarbig
• Olivenhain
• Olivenibis

• Olivenkern
• Olivenstein
• olivgrün

Further reading

• Olive in Duden online