hyacinthus
hyacinthus Lexical Profile
• noun
A genus of bulbous, fragrant, spring-blooming perennial plants in the family Asparagaceae, native to the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, from which the common cultivated garden hyacinths are derived.
"The botanist classified the rare bulbous plant under the genus Hyacinthus due to its distinct floral anatomy."
In Greek mythology, a beautiful Spartan prince loved by the god Apollo, who was accidentally killed by a discus and from whose spilled blood a beautiful flower was said to have emerged.
"The tragic myth of Hyacinthus serves as an ancient etiological tale to explain the origin of the spring flower bearing his name."
Word Nuance & Usage
While typically lowercased in general queries, it is formally capitalized as 'Hyacinthus' when referring to the botanical genus or the figure from Greek mythology.
• Rhymes for hyacinthus
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Latin 'hyacinthus', which was borrowed from Ancient Greek 'hyakinthos' (ὑάκινθος), a word of pre-Greek (Minoan) origin originally referring to a blue gem or the flower that sprang from the blood of the mythological youth.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.