Word.ws English Dictionary

lavender

Syllables: lav·en·der/ˈlæv.ən.dəː/US/ˈlæv.ən.dɚ/

lavender noun: any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.

lavender: any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

lavender (countable and uncountable, plural lavenders)

  1. Any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.
  2. A pale bluish purple or violet colour, like that of the lavender flower.
  3. (historical, uncountable) A kind of film stock used for creating positive prints from negatives as part of the process of duplicating the negatives.

Adjective

lavender (comparative more lavender, superlative most lavender)

  1. Having a pale purple colour.
  2. Pertaining to LGBT people and rights.
    • “Now in here,” their guide, sweating dark tentacles into his tab collar, briefed them, “you are going to see the members of the third sex, the lavender crowd this city by the Bay is so justly famous for.1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 81
    • My sother (significant other) and I have been together almost nineteen years. Exactly half of the usual wedding vows taken traditionally by non-lavender couples — for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, — have been characteristic of our relationship.1981 August 22, Nancy Walker, “Still Coming Out, After All These Years”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 6, page 11
  3. Pertaining to lesbian feminism; opposing heterosexism.

Verb

lavender (third-person singular simple present lavenders, present participle lavendering, simple past and past participle lavendered)

  1. (transitive) To decorate or perfume with lavender.
    • Short shafts of dying sunlight mingled with the deepening grey, lavendering the horizon, and all nature seemed to hush as though waiting to welcome the night.1986, Katherine Gibson Fougera, With Custer's Cavalry, page 47

Proper noun capitalized: Lavender

Lavender (countable and uncountable, plural Lavenders)

  1. A surname.
  2. A female given name from English.
    • She wanted to give the child a unique, meaningful name; among those she and Linda liked, she said, were Laurel and Lavender. Or if it was a boy, perhaps Sage . “Why not Spinach or Cabbage?” Brian had scoffed.1974, Alison Lurie, The War Between the Tates: A Novel, Open Road Media, published 2012, →ISBN
  3. An unincorporated community in Floyd County, Georgia, United States, named after a storekeeper.
  4. An unincorporated community in Kittitas County, Washington, United States, named after John Lavender.
  5. A subzone of Kallang, Singapore.

lavender meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lavender in Hindi

लैवेंडर, लवेंडर, लैवेंडर करना

lavender in Tamil

சுகந்தி

lavender in Marathi

लॅव्हेंडर, लॅवेंडर, लॅव्हंडर

lavender in Urdu

لیوینڈر, لیونڈر, لاوینڈر
More languagesFewer languages
lavender in Bengali
ল্যাভেন্ডার, সুগন্ধি ফুল
lavender in Telugu
లావెండర్, ల్యావెండర్
lavender in Malayalam
ധൂമള dhūmaḷa
lavender in Kannada
ಲ್ಯಾವೆಂಡರ್, ಲಾವೆಂಡರ್
lavender in Punjabi
ਲੈਵੇਂਡਰ, ਲਵੈਂਡਰ, ਲਵੇਂਡਰ
lavender in Gujarati
લવંડર, લેવેંડર, લેવેન્ડર
lavender in Odia
ଲାଭେଣ୍ଡର, ଲାଭେଣ୍ଡର୍
lavender in Nepali
ल्याभेन्डर, लेभेन्डर, लभेन्डर
lavender in Tagalog
alusema
lavender in Arabic
خُزَامَى ḵuzāmā, ضِرْم ḍirm
lavender in Malay
lavender, gandaria
lavender in Indonesian
lavender
lavender in Persian
استوخدوس ostoxodus, لاواند lâvând, بنفش روشن banafš-e rošan
lavender in Thai
ลาเวนเดอร์ laa-wen-də̂ə
lavender in Vietnamese
oải hương

Examples of lavender in a sentence

  • In keeping with the orchidaceous theme of the wedding, the decorator draped the walls with lavenders and pinks.
  • They passed slowly under the jacaranda trees beginning to bloom lavender over their heads.
  • The "lavender ceiling" has been shattered — after nearly a century in place.

All 34 example sentences with lavender

Forms of lavender

Noun
plurallavenders
Adjective
comparativemore lavender
superlativemost lavender
Verb
third-person singular presentlavenders
present participlelavendering
past participlelavendered
pastlavendered
Proper noun
pluralLavenders

Plural of lavender: lavenders

Origin of lavender

From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.

Words formed from lavender

Phrases with lavender

Questions about lavender

What does lavender mean?
Lavender means any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.
What is lavender in Hindi?
Lavender in Hindi is लैवेंडर, लवेंडर, लैवेंडर करना. See Lavender meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is lavender?
Lavender can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lavender?
Lavender is pronounced /ˈlæv.ən.dəː/ (UK).
What is the plural of lavender?
The plural of lavender is lavenders.

Words near lavender in the dictionary

  1. Lavelys
  2. lavement
  3. lavements
  4. Laven
  5. lavendamycin
  6. lavender
  7. Lavender Bay
  8. lavender ceiling
  9. lavender ceilings
  10. lavender cotton
  11. lavender foal syndrome

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lavender (page history and authors); Lavender (page history and authors); lavender (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lavender (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lavender (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ധൂമള (Malayalam) (page history and authors); lavender (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lavender (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

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

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