Myrtle

How to spell myrtle

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce myrtle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does myrtle mean?

1. nounAn evergreen shrub with glossy aromatic leaves and fragrant white flowers, often grown in gardens.

Myrtle in a sentence

• A low hedge of myrtle bordered the front path.

• The nursery sold a potted myrtle alongside the rosemary and bay.

Where does myrtle come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word goes back to the Greek myrtos, the name of an evergreen Mediterranean shrub prized for its fragrant white flowers and dark berries. Latin took this over as myrtus, and from it formed the diminutive myrtillus, literally 'little myrtle'. That diminutive passed into Medieval Latin as myrtilla and then into Old French as myrtille, and English adopted it in the late 1400s as 'myrtle'. The unusual spelling, with the -rt- cluster followed by the silent-leaning -le, preserves the Latin and French shape rather than the way English speakers actually say it. In classical culture the myrtle was sacred to Venus and worn at weddings, which is why the plant later became a popular and gracious girl's name in the English-speaking world.

How the word is built

• myrt- (from Latin myrtus / Greek myrtos: the myrtle shrub)
• -le (from the Latin diminutive -illus)