violet

(ə lit, vīlit)

noun

    1. any of a genus (Viola) of plants of the violet family, having white, blue, purple, or yellow irregular flowers with short spurs
    2. the flower of any of these plants
  1. any of various similar plants, as the African violet, or their flowers
  2. a bluish-purple color

Origin: ME < OFr violette, dim. of viole < L viola, a violet < or akin to Gr ion, violet

adjective

  1. designating a family (Violaceae, order Violales) of temperate and tropical dicotyledonous plants having five-parted flowers, a one-celled ovary, and a three-valved fruit capsule, including the pansies
  2. of the color violet

noun

a feminine name: dim. Vi

Origin: < violet

See violet in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. a. Any of various low-growing herbs of the genus Viola, having short-spurred, irregular flowers that are characteristically purplish-blue but sometimes yellow or white.
    b. Any of several similar plants, such as the African violet.
  2. The hue of the short-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 380 to 420 nanometers; any of a group of colors, reddish-blue in hue, that may vary in lightness and saturation.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old French violete

Origin: , diminutive of viole

Origin: , from Latin viola

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