What does periwinkle mean?
Periwinkle is a word with several related meanings. Most commonly, it describes a delicate blue-violet color that can lean toward lavender or violet, making it a useful term for shades that are difficult to name precisely. It also names a small marine gastropod, a shell-bearing relative of the winkle, and an evergreen plant in the genus Vinca, whose blue, purple, or white flowers appear in gardens. The color sense is especially familiar in American English, while British speakers also commonly use the word for the mollusk. Periwinkle sounds ornamental and poetic, but it is also a precise color name rather than merely a decorative synonym for purple. The word is especially useful when describing a blue with a distinct violet undertone, or when referring to the small snails and their shells encountered along rocky coastlines.
A blue-violet color; a small marine gastropod mollusk; or an evergreen flowering plant of the genus Vinca.
"A cluster of periwinkle flowers grew beside the garden wall."
Of the color periwinkle, a soft blue with a violet undertone.
"The room was painted in a pale periwinkle."
The plural is used for multiple mollusks, plants, or individual items of the color, though the color itself is usually treated as an uncountable noun.
"She collected a handful of blue periwinkles along the shore."
Periwinkle is both a vivid blue-violet and the name of a tiny sea snail whose shell helped give the color its evocative name.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does periwinkle come from?
The word entered Middle English through Anglo-Norman and Old French forms ultimately connected with Latin pervinca, a name associated with the plant. The English name was later applied to the marine mollusk, whose shell can be blue-violet or purplish, and the color sense developed from the plant’s flowers and the shell’s coloring. Related forms include the French pervenche and the botanical name Vinca, from which words such as vincamine and vincristine are derived.
How periwinkle is actually used
The word is used for the color and the plant in both British and American English. In British English, it is especially familiar as the name of the marine mollusk; in American English, the color sense is particularly common. The plant sense is less frequent and is often qualified as “periwinkle plant.”