Nectar

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈnÉ›k.tÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈnÉ›k.təɹ/

Origin

From Latin nectar, from Ancient Greek νέκταρ (nektar, "nourishment of the gods"), from νέκ ("death") (see necro-) + ταρ ("overcoming"), from Proto-Indo-European *tere ("to overcome, pass through, cross over").

Full definition of nectar

Noun

1. (chiefly mythology) The drink of the gods. from 16th c.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4: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.
3. (botany) The sweet liquid secreted by flowers to attract pollinating insects and birds. from 17th c.

Related terms

• nectarine
• nectarous
• nectary

Anagrams

• canter
• carnet
• centra
• Cretan
• recant
• trance