verdure

English

Etymology

From Middle English verdure, from Old French verdure.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːd͡ʒə/, /ˈvɜːdjə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝd͡ʒɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)
• Homophone: verger (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: ver‧dure

Noun

verdure (countable and uncountable, plural verdures)

1. The greenness of lush or growing vegetation; also: the vegetation itself.

   Synonyms: greenliness, greenth

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     […] now he was / The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, / And suck'd my verdure out on't.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent had made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the verdure of the early trees.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 1, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

     To her belonged Amber Spring, the water which gave verdure and beauty to the village and made living possible on that wild purple upland waste.

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:

     Through the brazen hours that followed high noon, we crept onwards through a tunnel of glittering verdure.

2. (by extension) A condition of health and vigour.

Related terms

• verdant
• verdurous

Translations

greenness, vegetation

• Belarusian: зе́лень f (zjéljenʹ), зеляні́на f (zjeljanína)
• Bulgarian: зеленина́ (bg) f (zeleniná)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 青蔥／青葱 (zh) (qīngcōng), 蒼翠／苍翠 (zh) (cāngcuì)

• Finnish: vehreys (fi), rehevyys (fi), vihreys (fi)
• French: verdure (fr) f
• Galician: verdura (gl) f, verdor m
• Georgian: სიმწვანე (simc̣vane), მცენარეულობა (mcenareuloba), ფოთლეულობა (potleuloba)
• German: Grün (de) n, Wuchs (de) m, Pflanzenwuchs (de) m
• Ottoman Turkish: یشیللك (yeşillik)
• Portuguese: verdor (pt) m, vegetação (pt) f
• Russian: зе́лень (ru) f (zélenʹ)
• Spanish: verdor (es) m, vegetación (es) f, verdura (es) f
• Swedish: grönska (sv) c
• Ukrainian: зе́лень f (zélenʹ)
• Vietnamese: thảm thực vật
• Welsh: gwyrddni m

condition of health and vigour

• Bulgarian: све́жест (bg) f (svéžest)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勃勃生机 (bóbóshēngjī), 万物竞发 (wànwùjìngfā)

• Finnish: elinvoima (fi), kukoistus (fi), kukkeus (fi)
• French: vigueur (fr) f
• German: Kraft (de) f
• Portuguese: verdor (pt) m
• Russian: све́жесть (ru) f (svéžestʹ)
• Swedish: friskhet (sv) c
• Welsh: hoen f

Verb

verdure (third-person singular simple present verdures, present participle verduring, simple past and past participle verdured)

1. (transitive) To cover with verdure.

Derived terms

• reverdure

Dutch

Verb

verdure

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of verduren

French

Etymology

From vert (“green”) +‎ -ure (noun-forming suffix), or from Vulgar Latin *virdūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.dyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -yʁ

Noun

verdure f (plural verdures)

1. verdure, greenness

Descendants

• → Romanian: verdură

Further reading

• “verdure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /verˈdu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: ver‧dù‧re

Noun

verdure f pl

1. plural of verdura