lily

/ˈlɪli/

lily noun: any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.

Image: Denis Barthel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

lily (plural lilies)

Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
- The engagement photos were set in a leafy bower festooned with pink and white roses, anemones, lilies and delphinium, like something straight out of an enchanted garden.2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC...
Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
- But sailing further, it veers its lily to the west.1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica
(plural-normally) A royal spade in auction bridge.
The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.

Adjective

lily (not comparable)

(derogatory, slang) White (as a racial epithet).
- "Can't you see I'm trying to save your lily ass?" "I don't want to be saved," Tess moaned as he hauled her up and into his lap with one beefy hand.1994, Colleen Faulkner, Captive

Proper noun capitalized: Lily

Lily

A female given name from English, popular around 1900 and currently returning to favor.
- "Poor little thing! She is very wee and frail, isn't she? Only two months old. We came away from the north, as soon as I was able to travel. She is called Lily."
  I remembered Horace having once told me that his mother's name had been Lilias.1866 August 11, Frances Eleanor Trollope, “The Tale of Aunt Margaret's Trouble”, in All the Year Round, page 100
- "Lily is such a romantic name. It sounds to me like soft music; it's the sort of name to make one dream of fanciful things."
- Lily smiled. "It's my grandmother's name. Coincidence, maybe, but she grew the most beautiful lilies."2001, Catherine Coulter, Hemlock Bay, Jove, published 2002, →ISBN, page 57

lily meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

lily in Hindi

flower in the genus Lilium: कुमुदिनी kumudinī

lily in Tamil

flower in the genus Lilium: பலுக்கல் palukkal

lily in Marathi

लिली

lily in Urdu

flower in the genus Lilium: سوسن sūsan

More languagesFewer languages

lily in Bengali: পদ্মফুল
lily in Telugu: లిల్లీ, లిలీ
lily in Malayalam: ലില്ലി lilli
lily in Kannada: ಲಿಲ್ಲಿ, ಲಿಲಿ
lily in Punjabi: ਕੌਲ kaul
lily in Gujarati: લિલી
lily in Odia: ଲିଲି
lily in Tagalog: liryo
lily in Arabic: زَنْبَق zanbaq, سَوْسَن sawsan
lily in Malay: lili
lily in Indonesian: lili
lily in Persian: سوسن susan
lily in Thai: ลิลลี่ lil-lîi
lily in Vietnamese: bách hợp, loa kèn

Examples of lily in a sentence

Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar).
The daily openings of the day lily bloom gives it its name.
Lily was pronounced dead at the scene.

All 40 example sentences with lily

Forms of lily

plural	lilies
alternative form (obsolete)	lilly

Plural of lily: lilies

Origin of lily

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion). See there for more.

A 19th-century flower name, from lily. Also a diminutive of Lilian and sometimes Elizabeth.

Phrases with lily

66 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with lily

22 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lily

What does lily mean?: Lily means any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
What is lily in Hindi?: Lily in Hindi is कुमुदिनी (kumudinī). See Lily meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is lily?: Lily can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lily?: Lily is pronounced /ˈlɪli/.
What is the plural of lily?: The plural of lily is lilies.

Words near lily in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: lily (page history and authors); Lily (page history and authors); lily (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lily (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lily (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lily (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ਕੌਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); lily (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); lily (Odia, 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lily.ogg.

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