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holly . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
holly , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
holly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
holly you have here. The definition of the word
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English
leaves and berries of European holly (Ilex aquifolium )
Etymology
From Middle English holly , holi , holie , a shortened variation of holin , holyn (> English dialectal hollen , holm ), from Old English holeġn , holen ( “ holly; prince, protector ” ) , from Proto-West Germanic *hulis ( “ holly ” ) , possibly from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- ( “ to beat, break ” ) .
cognates
Cognate with
Scots holin ,
hollin ,
holyn ( “ holly ” ) ,
Dutch hulst ( “ holly ” ) ,
German Hulst ( “ holly ” ) ,
French houx ( "holly" < Germanic ) ,
Danish hylver ( “ holly ” ) ,
Welsh celyn ( “ holly ” ) ,
Russian ко́лос ( kólos ,
“ ear of wheat ” ) ,
Albanian kalli ( “ straw, chaff ” ) ,
Latin culmus ( “ stalk, stem ” ) ,
Sanskrit कटम्ब ( kaṭamba ,
“ arrow ” ) ,
Old Church Slavonic класъ ( klasŭ ,
“ ear of grain ” ) .
Pronunciation
Noun
holly (countable and uncountable , plural hollies )
Any of various shrubs or (mostly) small trees , of the genus Ilex , either evergreen or deciduous , used as decoration especially at Christmas .
1940 , Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens , The Macmillan Company, page 273 :Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly , yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.
The wood from this tree.
( with a qualifier ) Any of several not closely related plant species likened to Ilex because of their prickly , evergreen foliage and/or round, bright-red berries
Derived terms
Translations
any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Albanian: ashe (sq) f
Arabic: بَهَشِيَّة f ( bahašiyya ) , إِيلِكْس m ( ʔīliks )
Armenian: փշարմավ (hy) ( pʻšarmav )
Asturian: acebu m
Azerbaijani: şümşə , pirkal
Basque: gorosti
Breton: kelenn (br)
Bulgarian: джел m ( džel ) , бодлива зеленика f ( bodliva zelenika )
Catalan: grèvol (ca) m
Cherokee: ᎤᏍᏓᏍᏗ ( usdasdi )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 冬青 (zh) ( dōngqīng )
Cornish: kelynnen f , kelyn f pl
Czech: cesmína (cs) f
Danish: kristtorn
Dutch: hulst (nl) m
Esperanto: ilekso
Estonian: iileks , astelpõõsas
Finnish: orjanlaakeri (fi)
Franco-Provençal: agriblon m
French: houx (fr) m
Friulian: rafacon m
Galician: acivro (gl) m , xardón (gl) m
Georgian: ბაძგი ( baʒgi ) , ჭყორი ( č̣q̇ori )
German: Stechpalme (de) f , Hulse f , Hulst m , Hülse (de) f , Stechhülse f , Hülsdorn m , Ilex (de) m
Greek: ίλεξ f ( ílex )
Ancient: κήλαστρος f ( kḗlastros )
Hungarian: magyal (hu) , krisztustövis (hu)
Ido: ilexo (io)
Irish: cuileann m or f , crann cuilinn m
Italian: agrifoglio (it) m
Japanese: 西洋柊 ( セイヨウヒイラギ , seiyōhiiragi) , ( a certain species ) 犬黄楊 ( イヌツゲ , inutsuge) , 黐の木 ( モチノキ , mochinoki)
Latin: acrifolium
Lithuanian: bugienis
Mingrelian: ბარცხინი ( barcxini ) , ბარცხელი ( barcxeli ) , ბაძგი ( baʒgi )
Navajo: didzéłchííʼ
Norman: housse m ( Jersey )
Norwegian: kristtorn m
Occitan: grefuèlh (oc) m , agrèvol (oc) , agreu (oc) , grifol (oc)
Old English: holen m
Ottoman Turkish: پرنال ( pırnal )
Persian: کولخاس ( kulexâs )
Polish: ostrokrzew (pl) m
Portuguese: azevinho (pt)
Quechua: wayusa , asiwu
Romanian: ilice f , laur (ro) m
Russian: па́дуб (ru) m ( pádub ) , остроли́ст (ru) m ( ostrolíst )
Sardinian: alase m , golosti m , olosti , bolostru
Scottish Gaelic: cuileann m , crann-cuilinn m , craobh-chuilinn f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: божи́ковина f
Latin: božíkovina (sh) f
Sicilian: addaurufogghiu (scn) m
Slovak: cezmína (sk) f
Slovene: bodíka f
Spanish: acebo (es) m
Svan: ბა̈რცხილ ( bärcxil )
Swedish: järnek (sv)
Tagalog: asebo
Turkish: çobanpüskülü (tr)
Ukrainian: па́дуб ( pádub )
Venetian: agrifoi m , spergol
Welsh: celynen f , celyn f pl ( collective )
Middle English
Etymology 1
Adjective
holly
Alternative form of holy ( sacred )
Etymology 2
Adjective
holly
Alternative form of holy ( porous )
Yola
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English holly , from Old English hāliġ , from Proto-West Germanic *hailag .
Pronunciation
Adjective
holly
holy
1867 , GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY :
Derived terms
References
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland , London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867 , page 47