What does hyacinth mean?
Word: Hyacinth
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Hyacinth means a garden plant with a thick spike of small flowers, often blue, pink or white.
How do you spell hyacinth?
Syllables: hy - a - cinth
Tricky part: The word opens with the sound of the i in kite, but that sound is written with a y, so hiacinth is the usual slip.
Watch out for: hiacinth, hiyacinth, hyacynth
Memory tip: Start it the way you start hyena: same sound, same two letters.
Hyacinth in a sentence
Example 1: A pale blue hyacinth stood in a glass jar on the kitchen shelf.
Example 2: Our art teacher asked us to paint a hyacinth from real life.
Example 3: The hyacinth in the school garden opened a week before the others.
Fun Fact
The water hyacinth, a floating plant with pale purple flowers that covers many lakes in India, is not a close relative of the garden hyacinth.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Every spring the gardeners at the old park in Darjeeling plant long rows of blue hyasinths along the path, and visitors walk past slowly to enjoy the colours.
a) colours
b) gardeners
c) visitors
d) hyasinths
Show answer
d) hyasinths. The s sound in the middle of this flower name is written with a c.
Word Cookie
One letter in this word is not needed. Find it:
hyaacinth
a) n
b) a
c) h
d) c
Show answer
b) a. The vowel after the y is a single a.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
A single pot of yntahcih on the windowsill brightened the whole room.
a) jasmine
b) hydrangea
c) hibiscus
d) hyacinth
Show answer
d) hyacinth. The y and t in the jumble sit together in only one of these flowers.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. crocus 2. daffodil 3. tullip 4. hyacinth
a) a cup-shaped spring flower on a tall stem
b) a plant with a dense spike of tiny flowers
c) a yellow flower with a trumpet-shaped centre
d) a small purple, yellow or white spring flower
Show answer
a) a cup-shaped spring flower on a tall stem. Tulip has one l.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Gardeners usually start hyacinths from ____.
a) saplings
b) runners
c) bulbs
d) cuttings
Show answer
c) bulbs
2. People often keep a hyacinth indoors in spring mainly for its ____.
a) fruit
b) shade
c) thorns
d) scent
Show answer
d) scent
