Meanings
holly1
plural hollies
- countableuncountableAny of various shrubs or (mostly) small trees, of the genus Ilex, either evergreen or deciduous, used as decoration especially at Christmas.
We'll deck the halls with boughs of holly.
1 more example
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.
1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273 - countableuncountableThe wood from this tree.
Holly2
alternative Hollie · alternative Hollee · alternative Holli · alternative Hollye · alternative Holley
- A female given name from English.
The bodies of 19-year-old best friends Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones were returned to Australia on Tuesday night.
2024 November 27, Jessie Yeung and Isaac Yee, “Laos detains foreign hostel staff over backpacker methanol poisonings as families and travelers demand answers”, in CNN, archived from the original on 19 Dec 20242 more examples
Grandma said, "I used to know a little girl called Holly - she always had her dresses trimmed with red or green." Milly-Molly-Mandy thought that was quite a nice name.
1929, Joyce Lankester Brisley, chapter 8, in More of Milly-Molly-Mandy"Holly, would you mind if I named my little girl 'Holly'? I mean, it's right around Christmas time, and I always think of holly with Christmas.
2006, Joyce Winters, Let Your Light Shine, →ISBN, page 209 - A topographic surname from Middle English.
- rareA male given name transferred from the surname.
- A place in the United States:
- A town in Prowers County, Colorado, named after cattleman Hiram S. Holly.
- A township and village therein, in Oakland County, Michigan.
- A township in Murray County, Minnesota, named after settler John Z. Holly.
- An unincorporated community in Kitsap County, Washington, named for a large holly tree.
Origin
holly · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*kelh₂-“to beat, break”
- Proto-West Germanic*hulis“holly”
- Old Englishholeġn
- Middle Englishholly
- Englishholly
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Holly · proper noun
- Old Englishhol
- EnglishHolly
* As an Irish surname, calque of mac cuilinn (“holly”) (see McCullen) and sometimes McQuillan. * As an English surname, variant of Holley. * As a Czech and Slovak surname, variant of Holý, Holy. * Also as a locational English surname, from Old English hol leah (“wood, clearing, meadow”), compare Hollywood. * Also as an English surname, short form of Holiday. * Also as an English surname, after the holly tree. * As a feminine given name popularized by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (especially the 1961 film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn).
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κήλαστρος
- κήλαστρος (kḗlastros)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Arabic بَهَشِيَّة, إِيلِكْس
- بَهَشِيَّة (bahašiyya)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- إِيلِكْس (ʔīliks)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Basque gorosti
- gorostiany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Bulgarian джел, бодлива зеленика
- джел (džel)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- бодлива зеленика (bodliva zelenika)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Catalan grèvol
- grèvolany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Chinese Mandarin 冬青
- 冬青 (dōngqīng)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Czech cesmína
- cesmínaany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Danish kristtorn
- kristtornany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Dutch hulst
- hulstany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Esperanto ilekso
- ileksoany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Estonian iileks, astelpõõsas
- iileksany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- astelpõõsasany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Finnish orjanlaakeri
- orjanlaakeriany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
French houx
- houxany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
German Stechpalme, Hulse
- Stechpalmeany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Hulseany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Hulstany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Hülseany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Stechhülseany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Hülsdornany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- Ilexany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Greek ίλεξ
- ίλεξ (ílex)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Hungarian magyal
- magyalany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Irish cuileann, crann cuilinn
- cuileannany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- crann cuilinnany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Italian agrifoglio
- agrifoglioany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Japanese 西洋柊, 犬黄楊
- 西洋柊 (seiyōhiiragi)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- 犬黄楊 (inutsuge)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- 黐の木 (mochinoki)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Latin acrifolium
- acrifoliumany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Lithuanian bugienis
- bugienisany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Norwegian kristtorn
- kristtornany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Persian خاس
- خاس (xâs)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Polish ostrokrzew
- ostrokrzewany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Portuguese azevinho
- azevinhoany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Romanian ilice, laur
- iliceany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- laurany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Russian па́дуб, остроли́ст
- па́дуб (pádub)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- остроли́ст (ostrolíst)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Scottish Gaelic cuileann, crann-cuilinn
- cuileannany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- crann-cuilinnany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- craobh-chuilinnany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Slovak cezmína
- cezmínaany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Spanish acebo
- aceboany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Swedish järnek
- järnekany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Tagalog asebo
- aseboany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Turkish çobanpüskülü
- çobanpüskülüany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Ukrainian па́дуб
- па́дуб (pádub)any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Welsh celynen, celyn
- celynenany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
- celynany of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ilex
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with holly
Cite this entry
holly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holly
“holly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holly. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “holly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/holly.
Source: holly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.