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 नील (nīla, “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, especially Syringa vulgaris, bearing white, pale-pink, or purple flowers.
    • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, 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. (color) A pale purple color, the color of some lilac flowers.
    lilac colour:  

Translations

Adjective

lilac (comparative more lilac, superlative most lilac)

  1. (colour) having a pale purple colour.

Translations
colour

Derived terms

See also

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

Anagrams
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