English Explanatory Dictionary

nectar

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The drink of the gods.
  2. Any delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice.
  3. The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds.
verb
  1. To feed on nectar.

Pronunciation

/ˈnɛk.tə/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-nectar.wav /ˈnɛk.təɹ/

Word forms

nectar nectars nectaring nectared

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

Related words

nectarine nectarous nectary ambrosia pollen

Derived words

amber nectar Dashe's nectar bat nectariferous nectarivore nectarivorous nectarize nectarless nectarlike nectarophagous nectar scarab Thomas's nectar bat
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on N Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary