Vanessa
/vəˈnɛsə/ name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.
Proper Noun
- 1 A female given name originating as a coinage.
"Vanessa be the Name / By which thou shalt be known to Fame. / Vanessa, by the Gods enroll'd: / Her Name on Earth - shall not be told."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Vanessa loves to knit hats, scarves, and mittens in rainbow colors."
Etymology
Etymology 1
Coined by Jonathan Swift as a pseudonym for a lady friend named Esther Vanhomrigh (or Van Homrigh), an Irish woman of Dutch descent, by taking the Dutch preposition van from her surname and adding -essa (perhaps influenced by the first syllable of Esther).
Etymology 2
From the genus name.