henna
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
A reddish plant substance, prepared from the dried leaves of this plant.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hehnuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɛnə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countableuncountable
A reddish plant substance, prepared from the dried leaves of this plant, used for temporary tattoos and hair coloring. Hair colorings range from bright red to earth brown to near black.
A reddish brown dye used especially on hair
countable and uncountable
A rich reddish-brown colour.
countableuncountable
A flower of this plant.
countable
A shrub, Lawsonia inermis, having fragrant reddish flowers.
verb
transitive
To dye or tattoo with henna.
adjective
Of a rich reddish-brown colour.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A reddish plant substance, prepared from the dried leaves of this plant, used for temporary tattoos and hair coloring. Hair colorings range from bright red to earth brown to near black.
Used this way, henna is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use henna
- “She hennas her hair every month.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.