lily

See also: Lily

English

A lily plant

Etymology

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion), from Fayyumic Coptic ϩⲗⲏⲣⲓ (hlēri) (compare Sahidic Coptic ϩⲣⲏⲣⲉ (hrēre)), from Demotic (ḥrry, “flower”), from Egyptian

(ḥrrt, “flower”), which is perhaps also the root of Sanskrit हली (halī), हलिनी (halinī, “lily”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlɪli/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪli

Noun

lily (plural lilies)

A floral arrangement containing white lilies in Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore

Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
(heraldry) The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
- 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:
  But sailing further, it veers its lily to the west.
(card games, usually in the plural) A royal spade in auction bridge.
(cartomancy) The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.

Alternative forms

lilly (obsolete)

Derived terms

lilied
arum lily
belladonna lily
calla lily
Christmas lily
cobra lily
day lily
Easter lily
fawn lily
lily crucifix
lily foot
lily-handed
lily iron
lily-livered
lily of the field
lily of the Incas
lily of the Nile
lily pad
lily of the valley
lily-white
Mariposa lily
palm lily
rock lily
spider lily
star lily
swamp lily
tiger lily
trout lily
water lily

Translations

flower in the genus Lilium

Albanian: zambak (sq), lil
Arabic: زَنْبَق‎ m (zanbaq), سَوْسَن‎ (sawsan)
Armenian: շուշան (hy) (šušan)
Atayal: boxi'
Belarusian: лі́лія f (lílija)
Bulgarian: ли́лия (bg) f (lílija), крем (bg) m (krem)
Catalan: lliri (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 百合 (zh) (bǎihé), 百合花 (zh) (bǎihéhuā)
Czech: lilie (cs) f
Danish: lilje c
Dutch: lelie (nl) m or f
Esperanto: lilio
Faroese: lilja f
Finnish: lilja (fi)
French: lys (fr) m
Galician: lirio (gl) m, azucena (gl) f
Georgian: შროშანი (šrošani)
German: Lilie (de) f
Greek: κρίνο (el) n (kríno)
Ancient Greek: κρίνον n (krínon)
Hebrew: שׁוֹשָׁן‎ (he) (šōšān)
Hindi: कुमुदिनी (hi) (kumudinī)
Hungarian: liliom (hu)
Icelandic: lilja (is) f
Indonesian: lili (id)
Irish: lile f
Italian: giglio (it) m
Japanese: ユリ (ja) (yuri), 百合 (ja) (ゆり, yuri)
Kazakh: лала (lala)
Korean: 나리 (ko) (nari), 백합 (ko) (baekhap)
Latin: līlium (la) n
Lithuanian: lelija f
Livvi: liilii
Macedonian: лилјан m (liljan)
Malay: lili
Maltese: Ġilju
Maori: rengarenga
Middle English: lilie
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lilje (no) m or f
Nynorsk: lilje f
Old Norse: lilja f
Persian: سوسن‎ (fa) (susan)
Polish: lilia (pl) f, lilija (pl) f (archaic)
Portuguese: lírio (pt) m
Romanian: crin (ro) m, lilie f
Russian: ли́лия (ru) f (lílija), кри́н (ru) m (krín)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: љиљан m, замбак m, крин m
Roman: ljiljan (sh) m, zambak m, krin (sh) m
Slovak: ľalia f
Spanish: azucena (es) f, lirio (es) m
Swedish: lilja (sv) c
Tagalog: liryo
Tajik: сӯсан (süsan), савсан (tg) (savsan)
Tamil: பலுக்கல் (ta) (palukkal)
Thai: ลิลลี่ (lil-lîi)
Turkish: zambak (tr)
Ukrainian: ліле́я f (liléja)
Urdu: سوسن‎ (ur) f (sūsan)
Vietnamese: hoa bách hợp, hoa loa kèn
Volapük: (plant) lelaplan, lel (vo), (older term) liäf
Yakut: лилия (liliya)
Yiddish: ליליע‎ f (lilye)

Adjective

lily (not comparable)

(slang, derogatory) White (as a racial epithet).
- 1994, Colleen Faulkner, Captive:
  "Can't you see I'm trying to save your lily ass?" "I don't want to be saved," Tess moaned as he hauled her up and into his lap with one beefy hand.

Anagrams

illy

Czech

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɪlɪ]

Verb

lily

inflection of lít:
1. inanimate masculine plural past participle
2. feminine plural past participle