narcissus
pronunciation
How to pronounce narcissus in British English:
UK [nɑ:ˈsɪsəs]
How to pronounce narcissus in American English:
US [nɑrˈsɪsəs]
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- Noun:
- bulbous plant having erect linear leaves and showy yellow or white flowers either solitary or in clusters
Word Origin
- narcissus
- narcissus: [16] The plant-name narcissus goes back via Latin to Greek narkissos. Writers of ancient times such as Pliny and Plutarch connected it with Greek nárkē ‘numbness’ (source of English narcotic), a tempting inference given the plant’s sedative effect, but in fact it probably came from an unknown pre- Greek Aegean language. In Greek mythology the name passed to a vain youth who was punished by the gods for spurning the love of Echo.They made him fall in love with the reflection of his beautiful features in a pool. He died gazing at his own image and was changed into a narcissus plant. In the 19th century his story inspired the word narcissism. At first it was just a general term for excessive self-admiration and self-centredness, but in the 1890s (probably at the hands of the sexologist Havelock Ellis) it became a technical term for a specific personality disorder marked by those traits.
- narcissus (n.)
- type of bulbous flowering plant, 1540s, from Latin narcissus, from Greek narkissos, a plant name, not the modern narcissus, possibly a type of iris or lily, perhaps from a pre-Greek Aegean word, but associated with Greek narke "numbness" (see narcotic) because of the sedative effect of the alkaloids in the plant.
Example
- 1. 17 / 17 Blossoming narcissuses in narcissus valley in the carpathian reserve , ukraine .
- 2. She was like a narcissus trembling in the wind .
- 3. You can 't even tell onions from narcissus .
- 4. Narcissus didn 't accept echo 's love .
- 5. The childhood narcissus carved deep into my heart , but the trivial in life carved me deeper .