lilac
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From obsolete French lilac (now lilas), from Arabic لِيلَك (līlak), from Persian نیلک (nilak), from نیل (nil, “dark blue”), ultimately from Sanskrit नीला (nīlā, “dark blue”)[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
lilac (plural lilacs)
- A large shrub of the genus Syringa, bearing white, pale pink, or purple flowers.
- 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 24962326:
- 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 mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
- A flower of the lilac shrub.
- A pale purple colour, the colour of some lilac flowers.
- lilac colour:
Translations[edit]
shrub
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flower
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colour
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Adjective[edit]
lilac (comparative more lilac, superlative most lilac)
- (colour) having a pale purple colour.
Translations[edit]
colour
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Derived terms[edit]
- ^ Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1895
See also[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Arabic
- English terms derived from Persian
- English terms derived from Sanskrit
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English adjectives
- en:Colors
- en:Flowers
- en:Olive family plants
- en:Purples