nectar
pronunciation
How to pronounce nectar in British English:
UK [ˈnektə(r)]
How to pronounce nectar in American English:
US [ˈnɛktɚ]
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- Noun:
- a sweet liquid secretion that is attractive to pollinators
- fruit juice especially when undiluted
- (classical mythology) the food and drink of the gods; mortals who ate it became immortal
Word Origin
- nectar
- nectar: [16] Nectar was originally the drink of the Greek gods, but soon after the word’s arrival in English it was being used metaphorically for any ‘delicious drink’. It comes via Latin nectar from Greek néktar, and it has been speculated that this may have been derived from the base *nek- ‘kill’ (source also of English necromancy), as some sort of allusion to the ‘immortality’ of the gods. Nectarine [17], the name of a sort of peach based on the now disused adjective nectarine ‘like nectar’, was probably inspired by German nektarpfirsich ‘nectar-peach’.
- nectar (n.)
- 1550s, from Latin nectar, from Greek nektar, name of the drink of the gods, which is said to be a compound of nek- "death" (see necro-) + -tar "overcoming," from PIE *tere- (2) "to cross over, pass through, overcome" (see through). Meaning "sweet liquid in flowers" first recorded c. 1600.
Example
- 1. Good weather in early spring allowed them to forage for nectar .
- 2. It 's the plants and flowers where the bees forage for nectar that will determine the significant difference in the taste , aroma and color of what the bees produce .
- 3. A bee collects nectar from a flower at a public park in amman , jordan
- 4. An ornate day gecko laps nectar from tree blossoms on mauritius .
- 5. Agave nectar comes from the same plant that tequila is made from .