nectar

nectar

See also: néctar

English

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.tə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.təɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: nec‧tar

Noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

1. (chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:

     They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

2. (by extension) Any delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice. [from 16th c.]
3. (botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds. [from 17th c.]

Related terms

• nectarine
• nectarous
• nectary

Translations

drink of the gods

Albanian: menjë (sq) f Assamese: অমিয়া (omia) Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar) Catalan: nèctar m Chinese: Mandarin: 琼浆 (zh) Czech: nektar (cs) m Danish: nektar (da) c Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar Estonian: nektar (et) Finnish: nektari (fi) Galician: néctar m German: Nektar (de) m Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar) Ancient: νέκταρ n (néktar) Hungarian: istenek itala, nektár (hu) Italian: nettare (it) m Japanese: (please verify) 神酒 (みき, miki), (please verify) 神酒 (しんしゅ, shinshu) Norwegian: Bokmål: nektar m Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m Persian: نوش‎ (fa) (nūš) Polish: nektar (pl) m Portuguese: néctar (pt) m, néctar dos deuses m Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár) Spanish: néctar (es) Welsh: neithdar m

sweet liquid secreted by flowers

Albanian: menjë (sq) f, mjalcë (sq) f Arabic: رَحِيق‎ m (raḥīq) Assamese: অমিয়া (omia) Bikol Central: duga Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar) Catalan: nèctar m Chinese: Mandarin: 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì) Czech: nektar (cs) m Danish: nektar (da) c Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar Erzya: улаз (ulaz) Estonian: nektar (et), õienektar (et), neste (et), mesineste (et), õiemahl (et), mesimahl (et) Finnish: mesi (fi) Galician: néctar m German: Nektar (de) m Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar) Hebrew: צוף‎ (he) m (tsuf) Hungarian: virágméz (hu) Irish: neachtair Italian: nettare (it) m Japanese: 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu) Maori: waihonga, ngongo Navajo: chʼilátah baa hózhónii bijeeh Norwegian: Bokmål: nektar m Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m Persian: شهد‎ (fa) (šahd) Polish: nektar (pl) m Portuguese: néctar (pt) m Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár) Spanish: néctar (es) Swahili: mbochi (sw), nekta Swedish: nektar (sv) c Turkish: bal özü (tr) Welsh: neithdar m

any delicious drink

Albanian: menjë (sq) f Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar) Catalan: nèctar m Danish: nektar (da) c, saftevand n Dutch: nectar (nl), nektar Estonian: nektar (et), neste (et) Finnish: nektari (fi), linnunmaito (fi), mehu (fi) German: Nektar (de) m Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar) Hungarian: nektár (hu) Italian: nettare (it) m Japanese: 美酒 (ja) (びしゅ, bishu) Persian: نکتار‎ (nektār), نوش‎ (fa) (nūš) Polish: nektar (pl) m Portuguese: néctar dos deuses m Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: (please verify) nektaro French: (please verify) nectar (fr) m Hebrew: (please verify) צוף‎ (he) Ido: (please verify) nektaro (io) Italian: (1,2,3) (please verify) nettare (it) m Japanese: (please verify) 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu) (liquid secreted by flowers), (please verify) 蜜 (ja) Lithuanian: (please verify) nektaras Mandarin: (please verify) 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì) (liquid secreted by flowers) Spanish: (please verify) néctar (es) m Swedish: (please verify) nektar (sv) Telugu: (please verify) మకరందం (te) (makarandaṁ) Turkish: (please verify) nektar (tr)

See also

• ambrosia
• pollen

Verb

nectar (third-person singular simple present nectars, present participle nectaring, simple past and past participle nectared)

1. (intransitive) To feed on nectar.
   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year (page 123)

     On the lane below, more orangetips nectared on spring beauties and violets.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “nectar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Canter, Cretan, canter, carnet, centra, creant, recant, tanrec, trance

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) nectar, beverage drunk by the Olympians

   Synonym: godendrank

   Coordinate term: ambrozijn

2. (botany, insects) nectar, liquid produced by flowers

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French

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱtr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish, disappear”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛk.taʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. nectar (all meanings)

Derived terms

• nectaire

Descendants

• → Turkish: nektar

Further reading

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

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱ-tr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Noun

nectar n sg (genitive nectaris); third declension

1. nectar

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	nectar
Genitive	nectaris
Dative	nectarī
Accusative	nectar
Ablative	nectare
Vocative	nectar

Related terms

• nectareus

Descendants

• → English: nectar
• French: nectar
• Italian: nettare
• Portuguese: néctar
• Spanish: néctar

References

• “nectar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nectar”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nectar”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nectar”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

nectar

1. first-person singular future passive indicative of nectō

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar) or French nectar.

Noun

nectar n (plural nectaruri)

1. nectar

Declension

Declension of nectar

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) nectar	nectarul	(niște) nectaruri	nectarurile
genitive/dative	(unui) nectar	nectarului	(unor) nectaruri	nectarurilor
vocative	nectarule		nectarurilor