lily

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lily

Etymology

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion). See there for more.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

lily (plural lilies)

Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
- 2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 August 2025:
  The engagement photos were set in a leafy bower festooned with pink and white roses, anemones, lilies and delphinium, like something straight out of an enchanted garden.
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

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)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: sosin (ku) f, zembeq (ku) f
Latin: līlium (la) n
Lithuanian: lelija f
Livvi: liilii
Macedonian: лилјан m (liljan)
Malay: lili (ms)
Maltese: ġilju
Maori: rengarenga
Middle English: lilie
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: сараана цэцэг (saraana ceceg), сараана (mn) (saraana)

Mongolian: ᠰᠠᠷᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ
ᠴᠡᠴᠡᠭ (saran-a čečeg), ᠰᠠᠷᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ (saran-a)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lilje (no) m or f

Nynorsk: lilje f
Old Norse: lilja f
Persian: سوسن (fa) (susan)
Polish: lilia (pl) f
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)
Venetan: zejo m
Vietnamese: bách hợp (vi), loa kèn
Volapük: (plant) lelaplan, lel (vo), (older term) liäf
Welsh: lili f
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

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

Anagrams

Czech

Pronunciation

Participle

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