Word.ws English Dictionary

valerian

/vəˈlɪə.ɹi.ən/US/vəˈlɪ(ə)ɹ.i.ən/

valerian noun: a hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.

valerian: a hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or...
Image: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

valerian (countable and uncountable, plural valerians)

  1. A hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.
    • In the event of anyone wishing to invoke the very Prince of Spirits, the following ingredients were prescribed to be burnt - Juice of Hypericon, Saffron, Artemisia, and the root of Valerian.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112
    • Tobacco and the plant valerian are also considered to be anaphrodisiac in their effects, diminishing sexual inclination.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 11
  2. More generally, any plant of the genus Valeriana.
  3. (uncountable) The root of Valeriana officinalis, used in herbal medicine.
  4. An extract of the dried roots of the Valeriana officinalis used in herbal medicine as a sedative.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Valerian

Valerian

  1. a Roman cognomen, notably borne by Publius Licinius Valerianus, a Roman emperor
  2. A male given name from Latin, of rare usage.
    • 10243—Valerian Joseph Eikmeier, D.1942 March 26, “Men in Third Registration Group Are Listed with Order Numbers […]”, in The Howells Journal, volume LIV, number 26, Howells, Neb., →OCLC, page [3], column 1
    • Miss Coletta Hunke, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Hunke, was married to Valerian Eikmeier, son of Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Eikmeier at St. Boniface church, May 1, 1946.1946 May 19, “[Weddings] Hunke-Eikmeier”, in Our Sunday Visitor, Omaha Archidiocesan True Voice edition, volume XXV, number 3, Omaha, Neb., →OCLC, page 5, column 2

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Valerian

Valerian

  1. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Валериа́н (Valerián).

valerian meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic

valerian in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும்

valerian in Urdu

بال چھڑ, جنس سنبل

valerian in Tagalog

Valeriana officinalis
baleryana

valerian in Arabic

Valeriana officinalis
نَارْدِين nārdīn, نَارَدِين nāradīn, حَشِيشَةُ الْقَطَّة ḥašīšatu l-qaṭṭa, سُنْبُل رُومِيّ sunbul rūmiyy
More languagesFewer languages
valerian in Persian
سنبل طیب sonbol-e tib, علف گربه 'alaf-e gorbe, ذوله zule, زوله zule

Synonyms of valerian

Forms of valerian

Noun
pluralvalerians
Proper noun
alternative formValerianus

Origin of valerian

From Old French valeriane or Medieval Latin valeriāna, a reinterpretation of what is found as German Baldrian after valēre (“to be powerful”) or also the gentilic name Valerius, which is seemingly borrowed in the Dark Age period from the late 6ᵗʰ to early 8ᵗʰ century from Turkic or Proto-Mongolic, when the Pannonian Avars were direct neighbours to the Germans, notably also present in Hungarian bojtorján (“burdock”), ultimately from Proto-Mongolic, reflected as Middle Mongol ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷᠭᠠᠨ᠎ᠠ (balčirɣan-a, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as ᠪᠠᠯᠴᠢᠷ (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix ᠭᠠᠨᠠ (-ɣana), Mongolian балчиргана (balčirgana, “false hellebore; angelica”), composed as балчир (balčir, “infant; young, tender, fresh, rank”) + plant name suffix -гана (-gana). See Ottoman Turkish بالدران (baldıran, “hemlock”) for Turkic cognates.

From Latin Valeriānus, from Valerius.

From Russian Валериа́н (Valerián).

Words formed from valerian

Words that rhyme with valerian

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about valerian

What does valerian mean?
Valerian means a hardy perennial flowering plant, Valeriana officinalis, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers.
What is valerian in Tamil?
Valerian in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும். See Valerian meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is valerian?
Valerian can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce valerian?
Valerian is pronounced /vəˈlɪə.ɹi.ən/ (UK).
What is the plural of valerian?
The plural of valerian is valerians.

Words near valerian in the dictionary

  1. valerates
  2. valerene
  3. valerenic
  4. valerenic acid
  5. Valeria
  6. valerian
  7. Valeriana
  8. valerianaceous
  9. valerianate
  10. valerianates
  11. Valeriane

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: valerian (page history and authors); Valerian (page history and authors); valerian (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); valerian (Urdu 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-valerian.wav.

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