vanessa
Syllables: Va·nes·sa/vəˈnɛsə/
vanessa noun: any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.
Noun
vanessa (plural vanessas)
- Any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.
- The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very abundant in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 438
Proper noun capitalized: Vanessa
Vanessa
- A female given name originating as a coinage.
- Vanessa be the Name / By which thou shalt be known to Fame. / Vanessa, by the Gods enroll'd: / Her Name on Earth - shall not be told.1726, Jonathan Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa
- A kind of girl that May had before only seen in the pages of fashion magazines, bored, disdainful, elegant, reluctantly admitted her. - - - She was asked to see Vanessa on the way out. She knew that the girl would be called something like Vanessa.1978, Maeve Binchy, Victoria Line, Central Line, Arrow, published 1993, →ISBN, pages 178, 179
vanessa meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
vanessa in Hindi
- वैनेसा, वेनेसा
vanessa in Tamil
- பட்டாம்பூச்சி வகை
vanessa in Marathi
- व्हेनेसा, व्हॅनेसा, वेनेसा
vanessa in Urdu
- ونیسا, وینیسا
More languagesFewer languages
- vanessa in Bengali
- ভেনেসা, ভ্যানেসা, ভানেসা
- vanessa in Telugu
- వెనెస్సా, వనెస్సా, వెనెసా
- vanessa in Malayalam
- വനേസ, വനെസ്സ, വനെസ
- vanessa in Kannada
- ವನೆಸ್ಸಾ, ವೆನೆಸ್ಸಾ, ವನೆಸಾ
- vanessa in Punjabi
- ਵੈਨੇਸਾ, ਵੈਨਾਸਾ
- vanessa in Gujarati
- વેનેસા, વૈનેસા, વેનેસ્સા
- vanessa in Odia
- ଭେନେସା, ଭାନେସା, ୱାନେସା
- vanessa in Nepali
- भेनेसा, वैनेसा
Forms of vanessa
| plural | vanessas |
|---|
Origin of vanessa
From the genus name.
Coined by Jonathan Swift in the 18th century as a pseudonym for a lady friend named Esther Vanhomrigh (or Van Homrigh), an Irish woman of Dutch descent, by taking the Dutch preposition van from her surname and adding -essa (perhaps influenced by the first syllable of Esther).
Words formed from vanessa
Words that rhyme with vanessa
Questions about vanessa
- What does vanessa mean?
- Vanessa means any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.
- What is vanessa in Hindi?
- Vanessa in Hindi is वैनेसा, वेनेसा. See Vanessa meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is vanessa?
- Vanessa can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce vanessa?
- Vanessa is pronounced /vəˈnɛsə/.
- What is the plural of vanessa?
- The plural of vanessa is vanessas.
Words near vanessa in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: vanessa (page history and authors); Vanessa (page history and authors); vanessa (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vanessa (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); vanessa (Nepali, 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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-Vanessa.wav.
Cite this entry: “vanessa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vanessa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.