narcissus
/nɑː(r)ˈsɪsəs//nɑɹˈsɪsəs/
narcissus noun: any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus, having white or yellow cup- or trumpet-shaped flowers, notably the daffodil.
Noun
narcissus (plural narcissuses or narcissi)
- Any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus, having white or yellow cup- or trumpet-shaped flowers, notably the daffodil
- The Daughters of the Flood have ſearch'd the Mead / For Violets pale, and cropt the Poppy's Head: / The Short Narciſſus and fair Daffodil, / Pancies to pleaſe the Sight, and Caſſia ſvveet to ſmell: […]1697, Virgil, “The Second Pastoral. Or, Alexis.”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 6
- At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they...
- A beautiful young man, like the mythological Greek Narcissus
Proper noun capitalized: Narcissus
Narcissus
- A youth who spurned the love of Echo and fell in love with his own reflection in a pool: in some versions of the myth, he drowned trying to reach it, while in others he sat fixated until a god took pity and transformed him into a flower.
- At the beginning of his narrative, Ishmael mentions Narcissus, the legendary character who plunged into the water and was drowned in the attempt to grasp his own essence (p. 14). Narcissus was unwilling to understand the relationship between himself and “the ungraspable phantom of life” in...1982, Carl G. Vaught, The Quest for Wholeness, page 25
- We may now affirm that Plato's cave is inhabited by Narcissus. He already knows, but the knowledge he possesses is still a bit confused, obscure (this knowledge is situated in the caves of the memory, a dark space much like Narcissus’s place).1994, Ronald Bogue, Mihai Spariosu, The Play of the Self, page 34
narcissus meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi
narcissus in Hindi
- any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus
- नरगिस nargis, नर्गिस nargis
narcissus in Urdu
- any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus
- نرگس nargis
narcissus in Bengali
- any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus
- নার্গিস nargiś
narcissus in Punjabi
- any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus
- نَرگِس nargis
More languagesFewer languages
- narcissus in Gujarati
- નરગિસ nargis
- narcissus in Pashto
- نرګس nargis
- narcissus in Arabic
- نَرْجِس narjis
- narcissus in Malay
- nargis
- narcissus in Persian
- نرگس narges
- narcissus in Vietnamese
- thuỷ tiên
- Sindhi
- نرگس ̃rgs
Forms of narcissus
| plural | narcissuses |
|---|---|
| plural | narcissi |
Origin of narcissus
Borrowed from Latin narcissus, from Ancient Greek νάρκισσος (nárkissos), ultimately either from Pre-Greek or related to νάρκη (nárkē).
From Latin Narcissus, from Ancient Greek Νάρκισσος (Nárkissos, “Narcissus”).
Words formed from narcissus
Words that rhyme with narcissus
Questions about narcissus
- What does narcissus mean?
- Narcissus means any of several bulbous flowering plants, of the genus Narcissus, having white or yellow cup- or trumpet-shaped flowers, notably the daffodil.
- What is narcissus in Hindi?
- Narcissus in Hindi is नरगिस (nargis), नर्गिस (nargis). See Narcissus meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is narcissus?
- Narcissus can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce narcissus?
- Narcissus is pronounced /nɑɹˈsɪsəs/ (US).
- What is the plural of narcissus?
- The plural of narcissus is narcissuses.
Words near narcissus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: narcissus (page history and authors); Narcissus (page history and authors); નરગિસ (Gujarati) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-narcissus.wav.
Cite this entry: “narcissus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/narcissus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.