nenuphar

From Medieval Latin nenuphar, from Arabic ⁧نِلُوفَر⁩ (nilūfar), ⁧نِينُوفَر⁩ (nīnūfar), from Middle Persian nylw(k)pl (nīlōpal, “lotus, water-lily”), from Sanskrit नीलोत्पल (nīlotpala), from नील (nīla, “blue”) + उत्पल (utpala, “lotus, water-lily”). Compare French nénufar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛnjʊfɑː/

nenuphar (plural nenuphars)

1. A water lily, especially the European white water lily (Nymphaea alba) or the yellow water lily (Nuphar lutea).
   • 1920, Natalie Clifford Barney, “A Parisian Roof Garden in 1918”, in Poems & poèmes:

     We'll try the «lunar waltz» while floats afar / Upon the liquid night — night's nenuphar.

   • 1923, Powys Mathers, transl., The Thousand Nights and One Night:

     Arrived at the stall of a fruiterer, she bought Syrian apples, Osmāni quinces, peaches from Uman, jasmine of Aleppo, Damascene nenuphars, cucumbers from the Nile, limes from Egypt, Sultānī citrons, myrtle berries, flowers of henna, blood-red anemones, violets, pomegranate bloom, and the narcissus.

   • 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire:

     Somewhere an iron curtain had gone up, baring a painted one, with nymphs and nenuphars.

• Nuphar on Wikispecies.Wikispecies