mignonette means of a greyish-green colour, like that of the flowers of the plant.
mignonette is pronounced /ˌmɪnjəˈnɛt/.
Why “mignonette” is a great word
A fragrant garden plant (Reseda odorata) with small, greyish-green flowers, or the muted, dusty green color of its blossoms. From French mignonnette, from mignon (“dainty, cute”) + -ette (diminutive suffix). Unlike the formal, botanical reseda or the warm, staining henna, mignonette is the quiet perfume of a cottage garden at dusk, a soft woolen coat the color of dried sage, or a ribbon faded by sun and rain—a gentle, almost forgotten prettiness that speaks of modesty over ostentation.
Etymology
From French mignonnette, from mignon (“dainty”) + -ette (diminutive suffix).
adj
- Of a greyish-green colour, like that of the flowers of the plant.e.g.“She wore a dishabille of mignonette-green silk and bead-diapered head-dress that added several inches to her height […].” — 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 44
noun
- A plant, Reseda odorata, having greyish-green flowers with orange-coloured stamens, and exhaling a delicious fragrance. In Africa it is a low shrub, but further north it is usually an annual herb.
- A mignonette tree (Lawsonia inermis), source of the dye henna.
- A mignonette vine.
- A greyish-green colour, like that of the flowers of the plant.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- reseda 75% match — Any of various plants of the genus Reseda having small, pale grayish green flowers, such as dyer's rocket (Reseda luteola) and mignonette (Reseda odorata). vs mignonette →
- mignon 59% match — A cute or pretty person; a dandy; a pretty child. vs mignonette →
- muguet 58% match — Lily of the valley. vs mignonette →
- cicely 56% match — Myrrhis odorata, a plant in the genus Myrrhis, in the family Apiaceae. vs mignonette →
- mezereon 55% match — An ornamental shrub, Daphne mezereum, having purple flowers and bright red fruit. vs mignonette →
- mignardise 55% match — A bite-sized dessert sometimes served at the end of a meal. vs mignonette →
- mâche 53% match — Valerianella locusta, a small dicot annual plant of the family Caprifoliaceae often cultivated as a salad green or herb. vs mignonette →
- ambrette 52% match — The musk mallow plant (Abelmoschus moschatus). vs mignonette →