periwinkle
/ˈpɛɹ.ɪˌwɪŋ.kəl/
periwinkle noun: any of several evergreen plants of the genus Vinca with blue or white flowers.
Noun (1)
periwinkle (plural periwinkles)
- Any of several evergreen plants of the genus Vinca with blue or white flowers.
- The Periwinkle is a great binder, staying bleeding both at mouth and nose if some of the leaves be chewed.1652, Nich[olas] Culpeper, The English Physitian: Or An Astrologo-physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of This Nation. […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC
- He that vvould diſcern the rudimentall ſtroak of a plant, may behold it in the Originall of Duckvveed, at the bigneſſe of a pins point, from convenient vvater in glaſſes, vvherein a vvatchfull eye may alſo diſcover the puncticular Originals of Perivvincles and Gnats.1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 137
- Similar plants of genus Catharanthus.
- A color with bluish and purplish hues, somewhat light.
- And although we’ve certainly seen a variety of blue shades — from periwinkle to cobalt and even Dean Cain’s indigo-washed costume from the 1990’s TV show “Lois & Clark” — Superman’s uniform is still instantly recognizable across generations. In fact, there is only one film — Zack Snyder’s 2013 “Man...2025 February 21, Leah Dolan, “How the Superman ‘S’ became fashion’s favorite logo”, in CNN
Adjective
periwinkle (comparative more periwinkle, superlative most periwinkle)
- Of pale bluish purple colour.
Noun (2)
periwinkle (plural periwinkles)
periwinkle meaning in Bengali and Vietnamese
periwinkle in Bengali
- একটি নীল ফুল, শামুক
periwinkle in Vietnamese
- plant
- dừa cạn
Examples of periwinkle in a sentence
- Her colorways tend toward the baby blues and the periwinkles.
- His was duotone, dark blue beneath the shoulders, periwinkle from the shoulders to the neck.
- Don f. (Apocynaceae), known as Old Maid or Madagascar periwinkle, has floral nectaries that combine both functions.
Synonyms of periwinkle
Forms of periwinkle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | periwinkles |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more periwinkle |
| superlative | most periwinkle |
Origin of periwinkle
Diminutive of Middle English perwinke, from Old English perfince, perwince (compare Middle High German berwinke), from Latin pervinca (compare French pervenche, Italian pervinca).
From Middle English [Term?], alteration of *pinewinkle (compare English dialectal pennywinkle), from Old English pīnewincle, compound of Latin pīna (“kind of mussel”), itself from Ancient Greek πίνη (pínē), variant of πίννα (pínna, “mussel”)) and Old English wincel (“corner”) (compare dialectal Danish vinkel (“snail shell”)). More at winch and wink.
Words formed from periwinkle
- bigleaf periwinkle
- blue periwinkle
- common periwinkle
- greater periwinkle
- herbaceous periwinkle
- large periwinkle
- Madagascar periwinkle
- periwinkled
- periwinkler
- periwinkling
- rose periwinkle
- rosy periwinkle
- checkered periwinkle
- flat periwinkle
- giant periwinkle
- rough periwinkle
Questions about periwinkle
- What does periwinkle mean?
- Periwinkle means any of several evergreen plants of the genus Vinca with blue or white flowers.
- What is periwinkle in Bengali?
- Periwinkle in Bengali is একটি নীল ফুল, শামুক. See Periwinkle meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is periwinkle?
- Periwinkle can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce periwinkle?
- Periwinkle is pronounced /ˈpɛɹ.ɪˌwɪŋ.kəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of periwinkle?
- The plural of periwinkle is periwinkles.
Words near periwinkle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: periwinkle (page history and authors); periwinkle (Bengali Wiktionary) (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)-Vealhurl-periwinkle.wav.
Cite this entry: “periwinkle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/periwinkle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.