narcissus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a bulbous spring-flowering plant with white, yellow, or orange trumpet-shaped flowers, including daffodils and jonquils

   A cluster of white narcissus bloomed beside the garden path.

2. 2
   noun

   a beautiful and self-absorbed young man, by reference to Narcissus in Greek mythology

   The portrait presents its subject as a modern Narcissus entranced by his own beauty.

From Latin narcissus and Greek narkissos, the flower name and the name of the mythic youth who fell in love with his reflection. The Greek word may be Pre-Greek or connected with narke, 'numbness,' perhaps because the plant was thought to have narcotic effects.

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