What does clary mean?
Clary is the common name for Salvia sclarea, an aromatic herb of the mint family native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean region. A stout biennial or perennial with wrinkled leaves and spikes of lilac-blue flowers, it is best known today under its fuller name, clary sage, whose essential oil is widely used in perfumery, aromatherapy, and the flavouring industry. Historically, however, clary enjoyed a much wider reputation: medieval and Renaissance herbalists valued it as a medicinal plant, especially as a treatment for eye complaints — a use reflected in its old folk name 'clear-eye' and ultimately in the word's origin, which traces back through Old French to the Latin 'clarus', meaning clear or bright. The plant has also long been used in cookery and winemaking in parts of Europe, where varieties such as muscadel clary lend a muscat-like flavour to wines. Today the word appears mainly in gardening literature, historical texts, and discussions of essential oils, making it a charmingly old-fashioned but genuinely useful botanical term.
nounA biennial or perennial herb (Salvia sclarea) of the mint family, native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean, cultivated for its aromatic essential oil and formerly used in cooking and medicine. Also called clary sage.
- The aromatic herb Salvia sclarea, also known as clary sage, whose essential oil is used in perfumery, aromatherapy, and flavouring.
- (Historical) The seeds or leaves of this plant as used medicinally to treat eye complaints, giving rise to the folk name 'clear-eye'.
"The hillside was fragrant with flowering clary in the early summer sun."
"She planted a border of clary along the south wall to attract bees to the kitchen garden."
"In the sixteenth century, herbalists prescribed clary seed steeped in water for tired and inflamed eyes."
The plural follows the regular pattern; in practice the singular is far more common because the word usually refers to the species or crop as a whole rather than individual plants.
"Rows of claries swayed along the edge of the herb garden."
Medieval Europeans called it 'clear-eye' and brewed it into a poultice to draw foreign objects out of the eye — hence the name, from Latin 'clarus', meaning clear.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of clary
The word 'clary' derives from Middle English 'clare' or 'clary', borrowed from Old French 'clari', itself from the medieval Latin name for the plant, 'salvia sclarea' or 'claria'. The underlying root is Latin 'clarus', meaning 'clear' or 'bright', chosen because the herb was traditionally used to clear and brighten inflamed eyes. The same Latin adjective gave English words such as 'clarify', 'clarity', and 'declare', making them distant relatives of this humble garden herb.
How clary is actually used
In modern usage, 'clary' most often appears in the compound form 'clary sage', particularly in aromatherapy and perfumery contexts. On its own it is chiefly encountered in gardening writing and historical or culinary texts. It is a countable noun with no common plural usage beyond standard contexts.
Easily confused with clary
'Clarify' is a verb meaning to make something clearer or easier to understand, whereas 'clary' is a noun naming a specific aromatic herb.