iris
pronunciation
How to pronounce iris in British English:
UK [ˈaɪrɪs]
How to pronounce iris in American English:
US [ˈaɪrɪs]
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- Noun:
- plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
- muscular diaphragm that controls the size of the pupil; it forms the colored portion of the eye
- diaphragm consisting of thin overlapping plates that can be adjusted to change the diameter of a central opening
Word Origin
- iris (n.)
- late 14c., flowering plant (Iris germanica), also "prismatic rock crystal," from Latin iris (plural irides) "iris of the eye, iris plant, rainbow," from Greek iris (genitive iridos) "a rainbow; the lily; iris of the eye," originally "messenger of the gods," personified as the rainbow. The eye region was so called (early 15c. in English) for being the colored part; the Greek word was used of any brightly colored circle, "as that round the eyes of a peacock's tail" [Liddell & Scott].
Example
- 1. And suppose those ghost workers had to undergo an iris scan before being paid ?
- 2. This incredible human eye , complete with retina and iris , can be found in the maldives .
- 3. Its government is gathering demographic data , fingerprints , and iris scans from of all its 1.2 billion residents .
- 4. So with funding from the uk 's engineering and physical sciences research council , beeby 's team is attempting to work out if oae patterns can be used in biometry , like iris scans or fingerprints .
- 5. John galliano is taking designer branding to a new frontier : contact lenses that outline the iris in fine circles of sparkling gold or black .