Other forms: hyacinths
A hyacinth is a spring bulb with a dense scented spike of flowers. Force hyacinths, the scent of hyacinth, a bowl of hyacinths.
The scent is powerful enough that one bowl fills a room, which is why they are forced indoors for Christmas. The bulbs irritate skin, so gloves are advised. The name comes from a Greek youth in myth, from whose blood the flower was said to spring.
1nounhyacinthA spring bulb with a dense scented spike of flowers.
“She planted hyacinth bulbs in the autumn, and by spring the whole garden smelled sweet.”
hyacinth is a flower.
Greek hyakinthos names both a flower and a youth of myth, from whose blood the flower was said to grow.
Old English
iacinþ
Medieval Latin
jacintus
Old French
jacincte
Middle English
jacinth
English, today
hyacinth
From Middle English jacinth, partly from Old French jacincte, from Medieval Latin jacintus, and partly from Old English iacinþ, from Medieval Latin jacinthus, both from Latin hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek ὑάκινθος (“any of several dark blue flowers”), ultimately from a non-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Re-Latinized in the 16th century.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA