carnation

English

A carnation cultivar

Etymology

From Middle French carnation (“person's color or complexion”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɑːˈneɪ.ʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑɹˈneɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

carnation (countable and uncountable, plural carnations)

1. (botany) A type of Eurasian plant widely cultivated for its flowers.
   1. originally, Dianthus caryophyllus
   2. other members of genus Dianthus and hybrids
2. The type of flower they bear, originally flesh-coloured, but since hybridizing found in a variety of colours.
3. A rosy pink colour

   carnation:  

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 6:

     And the women of New Bedford, they bloom like their own red roses. But roses only bloom in summer; whereas the fine carnation of their cheeks is perennial as sunlight in the seventh heavens.

4. (archaic) The pinkish colors used in art to render human face and flesh

   carnation:  

5. A scarlet colour.

Synonyms

• (plant, flower): clove pink (also called gillyflower), (ancestor of the carnation) Dianthus caryophyllus
• (plant, flower): cottage pink, Dianthus plumarius

Derived terms

• carnation-grass
• sea carnation

 

Related terms

• carnal
• carnassial
• carnify
• carnival
• carnivore
• carnosity
• incarnadine
• incarnate

Translations

plant

• Albanian: karafil (sq)
• Arabic: قَرَنْفُل (ar) m (qaranful)

  Hijazi Arabic: قُرُنْفُل m (gurunful)

  Moroccan Arabic: قرنفل (qrunful, qranful)

• Armenian: մեխակ (hy) (mexak), ղարանֆիլ (hy) (ġaranfil)
• Bulgarian: карамфил (bg) m (karamfil)
• Catalan: clavell (ca) m, clavellina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 剪絨花／剪绒花 (chián-jiông-hoe)

  Mandarin: 康乃馨 (zh) (kāngnǎixīn)

• Czech: karafiát m, hvozdík (cs) m
• Dutch: anjer (nl) m or f, anjelier (nl) m or f, genoffel (nl) f
• Esperanto: dianto
• Faroese: nelikur m
• Finnish: tarhaneilikka (fi)
• French: œillet (fr)
• Galician: caraveleira f, caravel m
• German: Gartennelke, Nelke (de) f
• Greek: γαρυφαλλιά (el) f (garyfalliá)
• Italian: garofano (it)
• Kalmyk: ^{(please verify)} хальмпр (xalʹmpr)
• Kazakh: қалампыр (qalampyr)
• Korean: 카네이션 (ko) (kaneisyeon)
• Lithuanian: gvazdikas
• Macedonian: каранфил m (karanfil)
• Maltese: qronfol m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nellik m

  Nynorsk: nellik m

• Ottoman Turkish: قرنفل (karanfil)
• Polish: goździk (pl) m
• Portuguese: cravo (pt) m
• Romanian: garoafă (ro) f
• Russian: гвозди́ка (ru) f (gvozdíka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каранфил m

  Roman: karanfil (sh) m

• Spanish: clavel (es) m
• Tagalog: klabel
• Turkish: karanfil (tr)
• Vietnamese: cẩm chướng (vi)
• Volapük: (Dianthus caryophyllus) kariof, (Dianthus) diant, (Dianthus plumarius) plümadiant
• Yiddish: נעגעלע n (negele), גוואָזדיקע f (gvozdike)

flower

• Arabic: قَرَنْفُل (ar) m (qaranful)

  Hijazi Arabic: قُرُنْفُل m (gurunful)

• Armenian: մեխակ (hy) (mexak)
• Bulgarian: карамфил (bg) m (karamfil)
• Burmese: ဇော်မွှား (my) (jauhmwa:)
• Catalan: clavell (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 剪絨花／剪绒花 (chián-jiông-hoe)

  Mandarin: 康乃馨 (zh) (kāngnǎixīn)

• Czech: karafiát m
• Danish: nellike (da)
• Dutch: anjer (nl) m or f, anjelier (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: dianto
• Faroese: nelikur m
• Finnish: neilikka (fi)
• French: œillet (fr) m
• Galician: caravel m
• German: Nelke (de) f

  Alemannic German: Nägeli n

• Greek: γαρύφαλλο (el) n (garýfallo)
• Hebrew: צִפֹּרֶן (he) f (tzippóren)
• Hungarian: szegfű (hu)
• Indonesian: bunga anyelir, bunga teluki
• Italian: garofano (it) m
• Japanese: カーネーション (kānēshon)
• Korean: 카네이션 (ko) (kaneisyeon)
• Malay: bunga teluki
• Maori: kāneihana
• Mòcheno: nagel m
• Nogai: калемпир (kalempir)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nellik m

  Nynorsk: nellik m

• Persian: میخک (fa) (mixak)
• Polish: goździk (pl) m
• Portuguese: cravo (pt)
• Romanian: garoafă (ro) f
• Russian: гвозди́ка (ru) f (gvozdíka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каранфил m

  Roman: karanfil (sh) m

• Slovak: hrebíček m
• Spanish: clavel (es) m, carnalización f
• Swedish: nejlika (sv) c
• Tagalog: klabel
• Thai: คาร์เนชั่น (kaa-nee-chân)
• Turkish: karanfil (tr)
• Venetian: garòfoło m
• Vietnamese: cẩm chướng (vi)
• Volapük: kariofaflor
• Yiddish: נעגעלע n (negele), גוואָזדיקע f (gvozdike)

rosy pink colour

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 粉紅色／粉红色 (zh) (fěnhóngsè)

• Dutch: carnatie, vleeskleur (nl)
• Finnish: neilikanpunainen
• French: incarnat (fr) m
• Russian: теле́сный (ru) (telésnyj)

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

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} carnagione (it)

Adjective

carnation (not comparable)

1. Of a rosy pink or red colour.
2. (archaic) Of a human flesh color.

Translations

colour

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 粉紅色的／粉红色的 (fěnhóngsè de)

• Dutch: carnatie, vleeskleurig (nl)
• Finnish: heleänpunainen
• French: incarnat (fr)
• Romanian: roz (ro)
• Russian: теле́сный (ru) (telésnyj)

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

• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} nagelj (sl) m

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermilion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• gypsophila

Anagrams

• Cantorian, Carnotian

French

Etymology

From Middle French, possibly from Italian carnagione (“flesh color”), either way from Late Latin carnātiōnem (“fleshiness”) (from Latin carō (“flesh”)), or from a corruption of coronation (from Latin corōnāre (“to crown”), from corōna (“crown”)), because of the flower's use in chaplets or from the toothed crown-like look of the petals.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.na.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

carnation f (countable and uncountable, plural carnations)

1. (uncountable) a fleshy pinkish color (not the color of a carnation flower)
2. (countable) skin tone

   Synonym: teint

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• connaitra, connaîtra