Word.ws English Dictionary

Phyllis

Syllables: Phyl·lis/ˈfɪlɪs/

Phyllis proper noun: a girl who killed herself for love and was turned into an almond tree.

Proper noun

Phyllis

  1. (Greek) A girl who killed herself for love and was turned into an almond tree.
  2. A female given name from Ancient Greek derived from the mythological character.
    • Fair Phyllis I saw sitting all alone / Feeding her flock near to the mountain side1599 John Farmer, Fair Phyllis (a madrigal)
    • But the name to which the Pages were given of yore, / And the name of the Page I am speaking of, bore / As much likeness as Sukey to Eleonore, / or Betty to Phyllis or Lalage;1855 A.W., The Little Foot-Page, in Chambers's Journal, No. 92, Oct. 6, 1855

Examples of Phyllis in a sentence

  • P. for Peter, P. for Phyllis." "I put F. for Phyllis," said the child of that name.1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 11:
  • Or his name is Philip and they name her Phyllis?" "Or Phillipa.2002, Patricia McCune Irvine, A Tinkling Cymbal, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 183:
  • The death of anti-feminist activist Phyllis Schlafly on Monday brought commiserations from the GOP ticket.2016 September 6, Timothy Stanley, “How Phyllis Schlafly gave us Sarah Palin”, in CNN:

Forms of Phyllis

alternative formPhillis

Origin of Phyllis

From the masculine Ancient Greek Φύλλις (Phúllis) or from the feminine Φυλλίς (Phullís).

Words that rhyme with Phyllis

Questions about Phyllis

What does Phyllis mean?
Phyllis means a girl who killed herself for love and was turned into an almond tree.
How do you use Phyllis in a sentence?
P. for Peter, P. for Phyllis." "I put F. for Phyllis," said the child of that name.
What part of speech is Phyllis?
Phyllis is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Phyllis?
Phyllis is pronounced /ˈfɪlɪs/.

Words near Phyllis in the dictionary

  1. phyllids
  2. phylliform
  3. phylliid
  4. phylliids
  5. phylline
  6. Phyllis
  7. phyllite
  8. phyllites
  9. phyllitic
  10. phyllo
  11. phyllo pastries

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Phyllis (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Phyllis.wav.

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