violet

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English violet, vyolet, vyolette, from Old French violette, from Latin viola (“violet”). Cognate with Lithuanian violetinė (“purple, violet”) and Spanish violeta (“purple, violet”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪələt/, /ˈvaɪlət/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪlət
• Hyphenation: vi‧o‧let, vio‧let

Noun

violet (plural violets)

2. A plant or flower of the genus Viola, especially the fragrant Viola odorata; (inexact) similar-looking plants and flowers.

   Synonym: (historical US) rooster

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 160:

     Refreshed by their cooling bath of evening dew, the violets and other nocturnal flowers emitted a pleasant fragrance over the fields, but from the bogs and the rivulets came up now and then damp, penetrating gusts, that sent an icy chill through me.

3. (figurative) A person thought to resemble V. odorata, especially in its beauty and delicacy.
   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 13:

     ‘Tom,’ he said, ‘you are looking at a crushed violet, a spent egg, a squeezed tube.’

4. The color of most violets; the colour evoked by the shortest visible wavelengths between 380 and 435 nm, an additive tertiary colour.

   violet:  

   web violet:  

5. Clothes and (ecclesiastical) vestments of such a colour.
6. (perfumes) The characteristic scent of V. odorata.
7. (UK dialect) Synonym of onion (“vegetable”).

Adjective

violet (comparative violeter, superlative violetest)

1. Of a violet colour.

See also

• gentamicin
• iodine
• iodopsin
• iolite
• ionone
• adder’s tongue
• cudbear
• rainbow
• rocket
• trout lily
• wild pansy

Further reading

• Violet (color) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Viola (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Viola on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Viola on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “violet”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Olivet, Voitel, olivet, toivel

Etymology

From Dutch violet, borrowed from French violet, from Latin viola (“violet”).

Adjective

violet (attributive violette, not comparable)

1. violet-coloured

Noun

violet (plural violette)

1. (uncountable) violet, a purplish colour
2. (botany) violet, viola

   Synonym: viooltjie

See also

Etymology

Borrowed from French violet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.oːˈlɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vi‧o‧let
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

violet n (plural violetten, diminutive violetje n)

1. violet, a purplish colour

Adjective

violet (comparative violetter, superlative violetst)

1. violet-coloured

See also

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Anagrams

• vloeit

Etymology

From Old French violet, a back-formation from violette (“violet (flower)”), from viole + -ette, from Latin viola.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vjɔ.lɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: violais, violait, violaient

Noun

violet m (countable and uncountable, plural violets)

1. (usually uncountable) purple (colour)
2. (countable) mushroom with a violet cap, such as a webcap or cortinar

Adjective

violet (feminine violette, masculine plural violets, feminine plural violettes)

1. purple

See also

Further reading

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯i.o.let/, [ˈu̯iɔɫ̪ɛt̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.o.let/, [ˈviːolet̪]

Verb

violet

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of violō

Alternative forms

• vyolet, vyolette, violette, vyelet, vialet

Etymology

From Old French violette, from Latin viola.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈviːɔlɛt/, /ˈviːəlɛt/

Noun

violet (uncountable)

1. violet (plant in the genus Viola)
2. The flower of such a plant
3. violet, blue-purple (colour)
4. violet-coloured cloth

Adjective

violet

1. violet-coloured
2. Made of violet-coloured cloth

See also

Etymology

Borrowed from French violet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.oˈlet/

Adjective

violet m or n (feminine singular violetă, masculine plural violeți, feminine and neuter plural violete)

1. purple

   Synonym: mov

Noun

violet n (uncountable)

1. purple (color)

   Synonym: mov

See also

References

• violet in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French violette, from Latin viola (“violet”).

Adjective

violet m (feminine singular violetta, masculine plural violets, feminine plural violettas)

1. purple