lilac
LY-lak · noun
Origin
English lilac comes from obsolete French lilac (now lilas), borrowed from Arabic لِيلَك (līlak), which itself came from Classical Persian لِیلَک (līlak) — Persian nīl plus a diminutive suffix -ak.
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Journey
The Persian root nīl traces back through Middle Persian nīl to Sanskrit नील॑ (nī́la) and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root, so a word that once pointed toward dark blue eventually settled into English as the name for a light purple flower.
Related words
The Persian and Sanskrit root behind lilac, nīl, is the same root that gave English the word 'indigo' its family of blue associations.
More words
From Classical Persian