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Glite Dictionary
African violet

African violet

1 4.3
A small African plant with soft fuzzy leaves and violet, white, or pink flowers kept indoors
  • noun
  • /ˈæfrɪkən ˈvaɪəlɪt/
  • South African
translation icon : violeta africana
  • My grandmother has several beautiful African violets on her windowsill that bloom throughout the year.
  • African violets on the windowsill
  • purple African violets
  • African violets bloomed

We have just this one last African Violet to re pot.

Examples

  • African violets come in three colors: white, purple, and pink.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "And there are African violets in every room."

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We have just this one last African Violet to re pot.

    Garden Answer

  • We have three African violets that don't look great.

  • On the windowsill were African violets.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • When I visited Carol Shields in May 2003, I purchased a luxuriant African violet.

    Academic text (2013)

  • And I had three small, droopy African violet plants set up at the end in separate small clay pots that I was growing for science as an experiment in three different soils.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I'll just have to content myself with my indoor African violet this winter (that thing has lasted for years and years, no matter how much I neglect it!)

    Blog text (16)

  • Now Ling's eyes went to a row of African violets on a low windowsill - pink ones, white ones, purple ones - all blooming!

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The florist recommended new soil for my African violet to help it thrive and produce more flowers.

Synonyms

Saintpaulia ionantha
vsAfrican violet
  • Specialized
8.4

A small African houseplant with violet, white, or pink flowers

is the general common name used for similar small indoor plants
Saintpaulia
vsAfrican violet
  • Specialized
9.9

A small houseplant with round leaves and purple flowers

is the common name for the small species within that genus

How Resilient

succulent
4 4.9
spider plant
1 3.6
African violet
  • South African
1 4.3

Surface Forms

African violet singular
African violets plural

Morphology

African + violet

The meaning is directly compositional: 'African' (from Africa) + 'violet' (a small flowering plant) yields a violet species associated with Africa, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a type of plant. This follows a common adjective+noun compound pattern found cross-linguistically, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

African violet comes from the plant's look and origin: people named it African because it comes from Africa and violet for its violet-colored flowers. That's why today African violet means 'a small houseplant with violet, white, or pink flowers'.