lilac

English

Etymology

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

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪlək/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪlək/, /ˈlaɪˌlæk/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

lilac (plural lilacs)

  1. 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.
  2. A flower of the lilac shrub.
  3. A pale purple colour, the colour of some lilac flowers.
    lilac colour:  

Translations

Adjective

lilac (comparative more lilac, superlative most lilac)

  1. (colour) having a pale purple colour.

Translations

Derived terms

  1. ↑ Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1895

See also

Anagrams

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