lavender
/ˈlæv.ən.dɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.44 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A pale bluish purple or violet colour, like that of the lavender flower.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A kind of film stock used for creating positive prints from negatives as part of the process of duplicating the negatives.
Uncountable
adj
Pertaining to LGBT people and rights.
adj
Example Sentences
- "“Now in here,” their guide, sweating dark tentacles into his tab collar, briefed them, “you are going to see the members of the third sex, the lavender crowd this city by the Bay is so justly famous for."
- "My sother (significant other) and I have been together almost nineteen years. Exactly half of the usual wedding vows taken traditionally by non-lavender couples — for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, — have been characteristic of our relationship."
- "Short shafts of dying sunlight mingled with the deepening grey, lavendering the horizon, and all nature seemed to hush as though waiting to welcome the night."
- "She wanted to give the child a unique, meaningful name; among those she and Linda liked, she said, were Laurel and Lavender. Or if it was a boy, perhaps Sage . “Why not Spinach or Cabbage?” Brian had scoffed."
Etymology
Etymology tree Medieval Latin lavendulader. Old French lavendrebor. Middle English lavendre English lavender From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: lavendre, lavendula, lividus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlæv.ən.dɚ/
- British English: /ˈlæv.ən.dəː/
Usage
Inflected Forms
lavenders (plural)
more lavender (comparative)
most lavender (superlative)
lavenders (present, singular)
lavendering (participle, present)
lavendered (participle, past)
lavendered (past)