Meanings
plural nenuphars
- A water lily, especially the European white water lily (Nymphaea alba) or the yellow water lily (Nuphar lutea).
Somewhere an iron curtain had gone up, baring a painted one, with nymphs and nenuphars.
1962, Charles Kinbote [pseudonym; Vladimir Nabokov], Pale Fire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, published November 1985, →ISBN2 more examples
We'll try the «lunar waltz» while floats afar / Upon the liquid night — night's nenuphar.
1920, Natalie Clifford Barney, “A Parisian Roof Garden in 1918”, in Poems & poèmesArrived at the stall of a fruiterer, she bought Syrian apples, Osmāni quinces, peaches from Uman, jasmine of Aleppo, Damascene nenuphars, cucumbers from the Nile, limes from Egypt, Sultānī citrons, myrtle berries, flowers of henna, blood-red anemones, violets, pomegranate bloom, and the narcissus.
1923, Powys Mathers, transl., The Thousand Nights and One Night
Origin
- Sanskritनीलोत्पल“blue lotus”
- Middle Persiannylw(k)pl“lotus, water-lily”
- Arabicنِلُوفَر
- Medieval Latinnenuphar
- Englishnenuphar
From Medieval Latin nenuphar, from Arabic نِلُوفَر (nilūfar), نِينُوفَر (nīnūfar), from Middle Persian nylw(k)pl (nīlōpal, “lotus, water-lily”), from Sanskrit नीलोत्पल (nīlotpala, “blue lotus”), from नील (nīla, “blue”) + उत्पल (utpala, “lotus, water-lily”). Compare French nénufar.
More words from Medieval Latin, Arabic, Middle Persian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
nenuphar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nenuphar
“nenuphar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nenuphar. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nenuphar,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nenuphar.
Source: nenuphar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.