Iris

How to spell iris

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce iris

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does iris mean?

1. nounThe coloured ring of muscle surrounding the pupil that controls how much light enters the eye.
2. nounA tall garden plant with sword-shaped leaves and large, showy, often purple or blue flowers.
3. nounAn adjustable diaphragm of overlapping blades that controls the size of an opening, especially in a camera lens.

Iris in a sentence

• The optician noted a small fleck of brown in her blue iris.

• She planted a row of purple iris along the garden fence.

• Closing the iris on the lens lets in less light and sharpens the depth of field.

• Bright sunlight makes the iris contract and shrink the pupil.

• The painter spent weeks studying a single blooming iris in the meadow.

• The engineer designed an iris that widens automatically in dim rooms.

Where does iris come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes straight from the Greek word iris, which literally meant 'rainbow'. In Greek mythology Iris was the goddess who personified the rainbow and acted as a messenger between the gods and mortals, travelling along the arc of colour she embodied. Because of that link to bright bands of colour, Greek and then Latin doctors borrowed iris as a name for the coloured ring around the pupil of the eye, and botanists used it for a flower famous for its rich, varied hues. English took the word over in the late 1300s and 1400s through Latin, keeping the original spelling almost untouched. The single i at the start and the s ending (rather than the 'eye-rus' sound might suggest) are the small traps, but remembering the rainbow goddess fixes both the colourful meaning and the plain four-letter spelling.

How the word is built

• iris (from Greek iris: rainbow); a single unanalysable root, not built from a prefix or suffix