periwinkle
1
8.1
- noun
- /ˈpɛrɪˌwɪŋkəl/
:
vinca
- The garden was filled with beautiful periwinkle flowers that bloomed bright blue in the spring sunshine.
- rosy periwinkle
Examples
-
Nina was wearing a jacket and matching skirt whose soft periwinkle tones set off her honeyed skin.
Fiction book (1999) -
Rather periwinkle blue flowers appear in spring.
-
I looked at her shut eyes and said: "The periwinkle flower on the calendar is gone!"
Fiction book (2000) -
My wife is not partial to periwinkle flowers.
Fiction book (2000) -
The periwinkle flower remained intact on the wall calendar.
Fiction book (2000) -
Among my wall calendars, there is one with a printed image of a periwinkle flower.
Fiction book (2000) -
With trembling hands, I placed the box containing the periwinkle flower on the altar.
Fiction book (2000) -
I looked at the wall calendar and was startled: the white periwinkle flower had disappeared; in the middle of the blue field, only its outline remained.
Fiction book (2000) -
The sky was cloudless, blue as periwinkle; the air, warm and summery, seethed with insects, mayflies, and yellow-winged butterflies.
Fiction book (1994) -
She admired the periwinkle plant growing against the fence, noting its vibrant purple flowers.
Synonyms
1
7.8
A low, spreading evergreen plant used to cover soil in gardens
A low plant with dark green shiny leaves and small blue-violet flowers that covers the ground
A plant with large green and white leaves that grows along the ground in gardens
Compounds
A plant with large green and white leaves that grows along the ground in gardens
A tropical evergreen plant with thick stems and bright pink or red flowers often grown in gardens
How Blue
Surface Forms
Etymology
Periwinkle (the plant) comes from Latin pervinca, linked to vincire 'to bind', which helps you remember the plant's long, low stems that 'bind' the ground like a little vine, and that is why periwinkle spreads as ground cover.