Word.ws English Dictionary

gardenia

Syllables: gar·de·nia/ɡɑːˈdiːnjə/US/ɡɑɹˈdinjə/

gardenia noun: any of various tropical evergreen small trees or shrubs, of the genus Gardenia, having glossy leaves and white flowers.

gardenia: any of various tropical evergreen small trees or shrubs, of the genus Gardenia, having glossy...
Image: Rvtsu, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gardenia (plural gardenias)

  1. Any of various tropical evergreen small trees or shrubs, of the genus Gardenia, having glossy leaves and white flowers.
  2. The flower of these plants.
    • The aroma given off by flowers has an aphrodisiac effect, especially on women. This is so particularly in the case of lilies of the valley, gardenia, frangipani, and henna.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 98
    • Heed remembered the baby-powder smell from the bowl of gardenias, their edges browning like toast.2003, Toni Morrison, Love, Vintage (2016), page 125

Proper noun capitalized: Gardenia

Gardenia

  1. A village in Belize District, Belize.

gardenia meaning in Nepali, Tagalog and Malay

gardenia in Nepali

tree or shrub of the genus Gardenia
इन्द्रकमल indrakamal

gardenia in Tagalog

tree or shrub of the genus Gardenia
gardenya

gardenia in Malay

tree or shrub of the genus Gardenia
cempaka

Forms of gardenia

pluralgardenias

Origin of gardenia

Borrowed from translingual Gardenia, named after Scottish naturalist Dr. Alexander Garden.

Words formed from gardenia

Questions about gardenia

What does gardenia mean?
Gardenia means any of various tropical evergreen small trees or shrubs, of the genus Gardenia, having glossy leaves and white flowers.
What is gardenia in Nepali?
Gardenia in Nepali is इन्द्रकमल (indrakamal). See Gardenia meaning in Nepali.
What part of speech is gardenia?
Gardenia can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce gardenia?
Gardenia is pronounced /ɡɑɹˈdinjə/ (US).
What is the plural of gardenia?
The plural of gardenia is gardenias.

Words near gardenia in the dictionary

  1. Gardenhire
  2. Gardenhires
  3. gardenhood
  4. gardenhose
  5. gardenhoses
  6. gardenia
  7. gardenias
  8. gardenin'
  9. gardening
  10. gardening leave
  11. gardenings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gardenia (page history and authors); Gardenia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gardenia.wav.

Cite this entry: “gardenia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gardenia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.