Contextualizebeta

periwinkle

noun
/ˈpɛɹ.ɪˌwɪŋ.kəl/UK

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from pervinca
  2. derived from perfince
  3. derived from perwinke

Definitions

  1. 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.
    • Among herbs that have traditionally been considered to possess aphrodisiac virtue are, maidenhair, navelwort, anemone, wild poppy, valerian, cyclamen, male fern, pansy, periwinkle.

  2. Similar plants of genus Catharanthus.

  3. A color with bluish and purplish hues, somewhat light.

  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. Of pale bluish purple colour.

    2. A mollusk of family Littorinidae.

      • He was working a pin into a periwinkle shell, turning it to extract the toothsome morsel of meat.

    3. A caddisfly larva.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for periwinkle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA