privet

Unknown origin, but possibly connected to prime.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪv.ɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪvɪt

privet (countable and uncountable, plural privets)

1. Any of various shrubs and small trees in the genus Ligustrum.
   • 1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 1, in The Subtle Minotaur‎:

     Slowly she turned round and faced towards a neat white bungalow, set some way back from the path behind a low hedge of golden privet. No light showed, but someone there was playing the piano. The strange elusiveness of the soft, insistent melody seemed to draw her forward.

• Amur privet, Amur River privet (Ligustrum amurense)
• California privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium)
• Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense)
• common privet, Cheyenne privet (Ligustrum vulgare)
• Egyptian privet (Lawsonia inermis)
• European privet (Ligustrum vulgare)
• evergreen privet (Rhamnus alaternus)
• glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum)
• ibolium privet, ibota privet (Ligustrum ibolium)
• Japanese privet (Ligustrum lucidum and Ligustrum japonicum)
• mock privet (Phillyrea spp.)
• oval-leaved privet (Ligustrum ovalifolium)
• pipe privet (Philadelphus coronarius)
• privet hawk moth
• swampprivet
• waxleaf privet (Ligustrum japonicum)
• wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare)

From Russian приве́т (privét, “hello, hi”).

privet

1. (informal) Hello, hi.

prīvet

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of prīvō