nectar

See also: néctar

English

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar, “nourishment of the gods”), from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”) + *-tr̥h₂ (“overcoming”), from *terh₂- (“to overcome, pass through, cross over”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.tə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛk.təɹ/
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: nec‧tar

Noun

nectar (countable and uncountable, plural nectars)

1. (chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     They pourd in soveraine balme and Nectar good, / Good both for erthly med'cine and for hevenly food.

2. (by extension) Any delicious drink, now especially a type of sweetened fruit juice. [from 16th c.]
4. (botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds. [from 17th c.]

Derived terms

• amber nectar
• Thomas's nectar bat

Related terms

• nectarine
• nectarous
• nectary

Translations

drink of the gods

• Albanian: menjë (sq) f
• Assamese: অমিয়া (omia)
• Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar)
• Burmese: သုဓာ (su.dha), နတ်သုဓာ (natsu.dha)
• Catalan: nèctar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 琼浆 (zh) (qióngjiāng)

• Czech: nektar (cs) m
• Danish: nektar (da) c
• Dutch: nectar (nl) m, nektar m
• Estonian: nektar (et)
• Finnish: nektari (fi)
• Galician: néctar (gl) m
• Georgian: ნექტარი (nekṭari)
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)

  Ancient: νέκταρ n (néktar)

• Hungarian: istenek itala, nektár (hu)
• Irish: neachtar m
• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 神酒 (ja) (みき, miki), ^{(please verify)} 神酒 (ja) (しんしゅ, shinshu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nektar m

  Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m

• Persian: نوش (fa) (nuš)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar (pt) m, néctar dos deuses m
• Romanian: nectar (ro) n
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)
• Spanish: néctar (es) m
• Swedish: nektar (sv) c
• Turkish: nektar (tr)
• Welsh: neithdar m

sweet liquid secreted by flowers

• Albanian: menjë (sq) f, mjalcë (sq) f
• Arabic: رَحِيق m (raḥīq)
• Assamese: অমিয়া (omia)
• Bikol Central: duga
• Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar)
• Burmese: ပန်းဝတ်ရည် (my) (pan:watrany)
• Catalan: nèctar (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì)

• Czech: nektar (cs) m
• Danish: nektar (da) c
• Dutch: nectar (nl) m, nektar m
• Erzya: улаз (ulaz)
• Esperanto: nektaro
• Estonian: nektar (et), õienektar (et), neste (et), mesineste (et), õiemahl (et), mesimahl (et)
• Finnish: mesi (fi)
• Galician: néctar (gl) m
• Georgian: ნექტარი (nekṭari)
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)
• Hebrew: צוף (he) m (tsuf)
• Hungarian: virágméz (hu)
• Ido: nektaro (io)
• Ingrian: mesi, meto
• Irish: neachtar m
• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu)
• Maori: waihonga, ngongo
• Navajo: chʼilátah baa hózhónii bijeeh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nektar m

  Nynorsk: nektar (nn) m

• Persian: شهد (fa) (šahd)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar (pt) m
• Romanian: nectar (ro) n
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)
• Spanish: néctar (es) m
• Swahili: mbochi (sw) class 9, nekta class 9
• Swedish: nektar (sv) c
• Turkish: bal özü (tr)
• Welsh: neithdar m

any delicious drink

• Albanian: menjë (sq) f
• Bulgarian: нектар (bg) m (nektar)
• Catalan: nèctar (ca) m
• Danish: nektar (da) c, saftevand n
• Dutch: nectar (nl) m, nektar m
• Estonian: nektar (et), neste (et)
• Finnish: nektari (fi), linnunmaito (fi), mehu (fi)
• German: Nektar (de) m
• Greek: νέκταρ (el) n (néktar)
• Hungarian: nektár (hu)
• Irish: neachtar m
• Italian: nettare (it) m
• Japanese: 美酒 (ja) (びしゅ, bishu)
• Persian: نکتار (nektâr), نوش (fa) (nuš)
• Polish: nektar (pl) m
• Portuguese: néctar dos deuses m
• Romanian: nectar (ro) n
• Russian: некта́р (ru) m (nektár)
• Swedish: nektar (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} nektaro
• French: ^{(please verify)} nectar (fr) m
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} צוף (he) m (tsuf)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} nektaro (io)
• Italian: (1,2,3) ^{(please verify)} nettare (it) m
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 花蜜 (ja) (かみつ, kamitsu) (liquid secreted by flowers), ^{(please verify)} 蜜 (ja)
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} nektaras
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 花蜜 (zh) (huāmì) (liquid secreted by flowers)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} néctar (es) m
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} nektar (sv) c
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మకరందం (te) (makarandaṁ)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} nektar (tr)

See also

• ambrosia
• pollen

Verb

nectar (third-person singular simple present nectars, present participle nectaring, simple past and past participle nectared)

1. (intransitive) To feed on nectar.
   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, page 123:

     On the lane below, more orangetips nectared on spring beauties and violets.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “nectar”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Canter, Cretan, canter, carnet, centra, creant, recant, tanrec, trance

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology) nectar, beverage drunk by the Olympians

   Synonym: godendrank

   Coordinate term: ambrozijn

2. (botany, insects) nectar, liquid produced by flowers

French

Etymology

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱtr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish, disappear”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛk.taʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

nectar m (plural nectars)

1. nectar (all meanings)

Derived terms

• nectaire

Descendants

• → Turkish: nektar

Further reading

• “nectar”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈnek.tar/, [ˈnɛkt̪är]

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar), from Proto-Indo-European *néḱ-tr̥h₂, derived from the roots *neḱ- (“to perish”) and *terh₂- (“to overcome”).

Noun

nectar n sg (genitive nectaris); third declension

1. nectar
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.432–434:

     [...] aut cum liquentia mella
     stīpant et dulcī distendunt nectare cellās,
     aut onera accipiunt venientum, [...].

     […], or when [honeybees] press the liquid honey and swell the cells with sweet nectar, or gather the burdens of incoming [bees], [...].

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem), singular only.

	singular
nominative	nectar
genitive	nectaris
dative	nectarī
accusative	nectar
ablative	nectare
vocative	nectar

Related terms

• nectareus

Descendants

• → English: nectar
• French: nectar
• Italian: nettare
• Portuguese: néctar
• Spanish: néctar

References

• “nectar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nectar”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nectar”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nectar”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

nectar

1. first-person singular future passive indicative of nectō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (néktar) or French nectar.

Noun

nectar n (plural nectaruri)

1. nectar

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	nectar	nectarul		nectaruri	nectarurile
genitive-dative	nectar	nectarului		nectaruri	nectarurilor
vocative	nectarule			nectarurilor