tulip
Americannoun
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any of various plants belonging to the genus Tulipa, of the lily family, cultivated in many varieties, and having lance-shaped leaves and large, showy, usually erect, cup-shaped or bell-shaped flowers in a variety of colors.
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a flower or bulb of such a plant.
noun
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any spring-blooming liliaceous plant of the temperate Eurasian genus Tulipa , having tapering bulbs, long broad pointed leaves, and single showy bell-shaped flowers
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the flower or bulb of any of these plants
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tulip
1570–80; earlier tulipa < New Latin, apparently back formation from Italian tulipano (taken as adj.) < Turkish tülbent turban (from a fancied likeness); see turban
Explanation
A tulip is a flower that grows from a bulb and blooms in the spring. You might give your grandmother a big bouquet of colorful tulips on her birthday. The first tulips were cultivated in 10th-century Persia, and the word tulip stems from the Persian dulband, "turban," which tulips resemble. In the Netherlands during the 17th century, tulips became so wildly popular that the price of the bulbs grew to be approximately ten times the annual salary of a skilled artisan. This period is known as "tulip mania." During this same time, a tulip virus caused variegated, or striped, patterns to appear for the first time on tulip petals.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Anna Pavord, biographer of the tulip, lives in the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
In one greenhouse, two women lifted tulip plants out of the ground and used a hand-drawn rolling cart to transport them to a refrigerated shed to await sale.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
There is an annual tulip festival that celebrates Pella’s Dutch heritage.
From Slate ● Oct. 22, 2025
While the garden is open, so-called tulip guardians will maintain the fields while encouraging visitors to stick to the paths between the rows of flowers, to avoid damaging the bulbs.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2025
“My word! This is going to be rather a large tulip, I think!”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
At one of the city's busiest tram stops, adjacent to a grassy roundabout bursting with vibrant yellow daffodils and orange tulips, the poster advertising landscape has changed.
From BBC ● May 3, 2026
They’d landed on the greatest incubator of speedskating talent anywhere outside the land of tulips and windmills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Garten arranges fresh orange tulips in drinking glasses and sets them along the middle of her table.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2025
Did you know there were nine million tulips in “Wicked”? How could it not win?
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2025
Betsie set down a pot of greenhouse-grown tulips and stepped back with a little cry of pleasure.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
