nectar

See also: néctar

English

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.tə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.təɹ/
• Hyphenation: nec‧tar

Noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

1. (chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

2. (by extension) Any delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice. [from 16th c.]
3. (botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds. [from 17th c.]

Related terms

• nectarine
• nectarous
• nectary

Translations

drink of the gods

• Albanian: menjë (sq) f
• Assamese: অমিয়া (omia)
• Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar)
• Catalan: nèctar m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 琼浆 (zh)

• Czech: nektar (cs) m
• Danish: nektar (da) c
• Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar
• Finnish: nektari (fi)
• Galician: néctar m
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)

  Ancient: νέκταρ n (néktar)

• Hungarian: istenek itala, nektár (hu)
• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 神酒 (みき, miki), ^{(please verify)} 神酒 (しんしゅ, shinshu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nektar m

  Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m

• Persian: نوش‎ (fa) (nūš)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar (pt) m, néctar dos deuses m
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)
• Spanish: néctar (es)
• Welsh: neithdar m

sweet liquid secreted by flowers

• Arabic: رَحِيق‎ m (raḥīq)
• Assamese: অমিয়া (omia)
• Bikol Central: duga
• Bulgarian: цветен прашец m (cveten prašec)
• Catalan: nèctar m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì)

• Czech: nektar (cs) m
• Danish: nektar (da) c
• Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar
• Erzya: улаз (ulaz)
• Finnish: mesi (fi)
• Galician: néctar m
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)
• Hebrew: צוף‎ (he) m (tsuf)
• Hungarian: virágméz (hu)

• Irish: neachtair
• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu)
• Maori: waihonga, ngongo
• Navajo: chʼilátah baa hózhónii bijeeh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nektar m

  Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m

• Persian: شهد‎ (fa) (šahd)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar (pt) m
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)
• Spanish: néctar (es)
• Swedish: nektar (sv) c
• Welsh: neithdar m

any delicious drink

• Albanian: menjë (sq) f
• Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar)
• Catalan: nèctar m
• Danish: nektar (da) c, saftevand n
• Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar
• Finnish: nektari (fi), linnunmaito (fi), mehu (fi)
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)
• Hungarian: nektár (hu)

• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: 美酒 (びしゅ, bishu)
• Persian: نکتار‎ (nektār), نوش‎ (fa) (nūš)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar dos deuses m
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} nektaro
• French: ^{(please verify)} nectar (fr) m
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} צוף‎ (he)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} nektaro (io)
• Italian: (1,2,3) ^{(please verify)} nettare (it) m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu) (liquid secreted by flowers), ^{(please verify)} 蜜 (ja)

• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} nektaras
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì) (liquid secreted by flowers)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} néctar (es) m
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} nektar (sv)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మకరందం (te) (makarandaṃ)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} nektar (tr)

See also

• ambrosia
• pollen

Verb

nectar (third-person singular simple present nectars, present participle nectaring, simple past and past participle nectared)

1. (intransitive) To feed on nectar.
   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year (page 123)

     On the lane below, more orangetips nectared on spring beauties and violets.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “nectar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Canter, Cretan, canter, carnet, centra, creant, recant, tanrec, trance

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) nectar, beverage drunk by the Olympians

   Synonym: godendrank

   Coordinate term: ambrozijn

2. (botany, insects) nectar, liquid produced by flowers

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French

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱtr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish, disappear”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛk.taʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. nectar (all meanings)

Derived terms

• nectaire

Further reading

• “nectar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱ-tr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Noun

nectar n sg (genitive nectaris); third declension

1. nectar

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	nectar
Genitive	nectaris
Dative	nectarī
Accusative	nectar
Ablative	nectare
Vocative	nectar

Related terms

• nectareus

Descendants

• → English: nectar
• French: nectar
• Italian: nettare
• Portuguese: néctar
• Spanish: néctar

References

• nectar in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nectar in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nectar in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nectar in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

nectar

1. first-person singular future passive indicative of nectō