violet

Etymology

From Middle English violet, vyolet, vyolette, from Old French violette, from Latin viola (“violet”). Cognate with Lithuanian violetinė (“purple, violet”).

noun

1. A plant or flower of the genus Viola, especially the fragrant Viola odorata; (inexact) similar-looking plants and flowers.
   Refreshed by their cooling bath of evening dew, the violets and other nocturnal flowers emitted a pleasant fragrance over the fields, but from the bogs and the rivulets came up now and then damp, penetrating gusts, that sent an icy chill through me. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 160
2. (figurative) A person thought to resemble V. odorata, especially in its beauty and delicacy.
3. A bluish-purple colour resembling that of most V. odorata.
   violet:
   web violet:
4. Clothes and (ecclesiastical) vestments of such a colour.
5. (perfumes) The characteristic scent of V. odorata.
6. (UK dialect) Synonym of onion.

adj

1. Having a bluish-purple colour.