lily

See also: Lily

English

A lily plant

Etymology

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion), from Fayyumic Coptic ϩⲗⲏⲣⲓ (hlēri) (compare Sahidic Coptic ϩⲣⲏⲣⲉ (hrēre)), from Demotic (ḥrry, “flower”), from Egyptian (ḥrrt, “flower”), which is perhaps also the root of Sanskrit हली (halī), हलिनी (halinī, “lily”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪli

Noun

lily (plural lilies)

A floral arrangement containing white lilies in Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore

1. Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
2. Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
3. (heraldry) The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
4. The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

     But sailing further, it veers its lily to the west.

5. (card games, usually in the plural) A royal spade in auction bridge.
6. (cartomancy) The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.

Alternative forms

• lilly (obsolete)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• lilied
• arum lily
• belladonna lily
• calla lily
• Christmas lily
• cobra lily
• day lily
• Easter lily
• fawn lily
• lily crucifix
• lily foot
• lily-handed
• lily iron

• lily-livered
• lily of the field
• lily of the Incas
• lily of the Nile
• lily pad
• lily of the valley
• lily-white
• Mariposa lily
• palm lily
• rock lily
• spider lily
• star lily
• swamp lily
• tiger lily
• trout lily
• water lily

Translations

flower in the genus Lilium

• Albanian: zambak (sq), lil
• Arabic: زَنْبَق‎ m (zanbaq), سَوْسَن‎ (sawsan)
• Armenian: շուշան (hy) (šušan)
• Atayal: boxi'
• Belarusian: лі́лія f (lílija)
• Bulgarian: ли́лия (bg) f (lílija), крем (bg) m (krem)
• Catalan: lliri (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 百合 (zh) (bǎihé), 百合花 (zh) (bǎihéhuā)

• Czech: lilie (cs) f
• Danish: lilje c
• Dutch: lelie (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: lilio
• Faroese: lilja f
• Finnish: lilja (fi)
• French: lys (fr) m
• Galician: lirio (gl) m, azucena f
• Georgian: შროშანი (šrošani)
• German: Lilie (de) f
• Greek: κρίνο (el) n (kríno)

  Ancient Greek: κρίνον n (krínon)

• Hebrew: שׁוֹשָׁן‎ (he) (šōšān)
• Hindi: कुमुदिनी (hi) (kumudinī)
• Hungarian: liliom (hu)
• Icelandic: lilja (is) f
• Indonesian: lili (id)
• Irish: lile f
• Italian: giglio (it) m
• Japanese: ユリ (ja) (yuri), 百合 (ja) (ゆり, yuri)
• Kazakh: лала (lala)
• Korean: 나리 (ko) (nari), 백합 (ko) (baekhap)
• Latin: līlium (la) n

• Lithuanian: lelija f
• Livvi: liilii
• Macedonian: лилјан m (liljan)
• Malay: lili
• Maltese: Ġilju
• Middle English: lilie
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lilje (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: lilje f

• Old Norse: lilja f
• Persian: سوسن‎ (fa) (susan)
• Polish: lilia (pl) f, lilija (pl) f (archaic)
• Portuguese: lírio (pt) m
• Romanian: crin (ro) m, lilie f
• Russian: ли́лия (ru) f (lílija), кри́н (ru) m (krín)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: љиљан m, замбак m, крин m

  Roman: ljiljan (sh) m, zambak m, krin (sh) m

• Slovak: ľalia f
• Spanish: azucena (es) f, lirio (es) m
• Swedish: lilja (sv) c
• Tagalog: liryo
• Tajik: сӯсан (süsan), савсан (tg) (savsan)
• Tamil: பலுக்கல் (ta) (palukkal)
• Thai: ลิลลี่ (lil-lîi)
• Turkish: zambak (tr)
• Ukrainian: ліле́я f (liléja)
• Urdu: سوسن‎ (ur) f (sūsan)
• Vietnamese: hoa bách hợp, hoa loa kèn
• Volapük: (plant) lelaplan, lel (vo), (older term) liäf
• Yakut: лилия (liliya)
• Yiddish: ליליע‎ f (lilye)

Adjective

lily (not comparable)

1. (slang, derogatory) White (as a racial epithet).
   • 1994, Colleen Faulkner, Captive:

     "Can't you see I'm trying to save your lily ass?" "I don't want to be saved," Tess moaned as he hauled her up and into his lap with one beefy hand.

Anagrams

• illy