pervenchen.
/pəˈvɒnʃ/, U.S. /pərˈvɑnʃ/ Now rare.
1. Chiefly literary. The plant periwinkle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > foliage, house, or garden plants > [noun] > periwinkle
sengreenc1000
periwinkleOE
clematis1551
pervenche1845
vinca1868
myrtle1880
1845 D. W. Jerrold Time Works Wonders v. 61 Here's the pervenche..the periwinkle; that means contentment with a little.
1890 A. Lang Old Friends 32 You remember, Camarada, Voltaire's love of the pervenche; we have plucked it, have we not?
1948 E. Pound Pisan Cantos lxxvi. 37 And in spite of hoi barbaroi Pervenche and a sort of dwarf morning-glory.
2. Chiefly U.S. A shade of light blue resembling the colour of periwinkle flowers. Cf. periwinkle n.1 3b.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > light blue
watchetc1405
vessey colour1562
fesse1587
Venice blue1598
Turkey colour1661
powder blue1752
Eton blue1851
ice-blue1851
periwinkle blue1852
Cambridge blue1858
baby blue1861
starch blue1875
duck's egg1876
pervenche1876
opal blue1881
periwinkle1895
pervenche blue1898
harebell blue1909
horizon-blue1919
Nattier blue1923
zircon blue1928
Mary blue1943
1876 Godey's Lady's Bk. Apr. 389 In self-colors the new shades are Croizette blue, pervenche, almond, steel gray, [etc.].
1899 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 3/1 Pervenche and navy are the opposite points of the cold tone of blue.
1924 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 11 Nov. 4/5 Thus we see..cranberry with black, black with pervenche and tortoise with mahogany.
1955 Sunday Times Signal (Zanesville, Ohio) 12 Dec. iii. 5/7 A floating short formal in a new soft blue called ‘pervenche’.
1997 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 23 Mar. 14 Conor thanked his stars he didn't draw even obscurer words that round—like..‘pervenche’ (a reddish-blue).
Compounds
pervenche blue n. = sense 2 (cf. periwinkle blue n. at periwinkle n.1 Compounds 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > blue or blueness > [noun] > light blue
watchetc1405
vessey colour1562
fesse1587
Venice blue1598
Turkey colour1661
powder blue1752
Eton blue1851
ice-blue1851
periwinkle blue1852
Cambridge blue1858
baby blue1861
starch blue1875
duck's egg1876
pervenche1876
opal blue1881
periwinkle1895
pervenche blue1898
harebell blue1909
horizon-blue1919
Nattier blue1923
zircon blue1928
Mary blue1943
1898 Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate 24 May 6/4 Cravat ends of some brilliant color, like cerise, emerald, pervenche blue, pink or red.
2001 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 26 Sept. 2 The faitout..comes in cobalt blue, green, pervenche blue, red, white, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1845