Word.ws English Dictionary

gladiolus

UK/ɡlædɪˈəʊləs//ɡlædɪˈoʊləs/

gladiolus noun: the center part of the sternum.

gladiolus: the center part of the sternum
Image: Christer Johansson, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gladiolus (plural gladioli or gladioluses)

  1. The center part of the sternum.
  2. Any of several flowering plants, of the genus Gladiolus, having sword-shaped leaves and showy flowers on spikes; gladiola.
    • Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    sword lily

gladiolus meaning in Vietnamese

gladiolus in Vietnamese

plant
lay ơn

Synonyms of gladiolus

Forms of gladiolus

pluralgladioli
pluralgladioluses
alternative formgladiola
alternative formgladiole

Plural of gladiolus: gladioli or gladioluses

Origin of gladiolus

Learned borrowing from Latin gladiolus (“little sword, sword lily”), diminutive of gladius (“sword”). Compare Middle English gladiol, whence gladiole.

Words formed from gladiolus

Phrases with gladiolus

Words that rhyme with gladiolus

Questions about gladiolus

What does gladiolus mean?
Gladiolus means the center part of the sternum.
What is gladiolus in Vietnamese?
Gladiolus in Vietnamese is lay ơn. See Gladiolus meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is gladiolus?
Gladiolus is a noun.
How do you pronounce gladiolus?
Gladiolus is pronounced /ɡlædɪˈəʊləs/ (UK).
What is the plural of gladiolus?
The plural of gladiolus is gladioli.

Words near gladiolus in the dictionary

  1. gladiolas
  2. gladiole
  3. gladioles
  4. gladioli
  5. gladiolin
  6. gladiolus
  7. gladioluses
  8. Gladish
  9. Gladishes
  10. gladite
  11. gladius

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gladiolus (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: en-us-gladiolus.ogg.

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