nard

See also: Nard, närd, and n-ard

English

Nardostachys jatamansi

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /nɑɹd/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɑːd/

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d

Etymology 1

From Middle English narde, from Old French narde, Latin nardus, from Ancient Greek νάρδος (nárdos), from Phoenician [Term?], Sanskrit नलद (nálada, “Indian narde”). Doublet of nardus.

Noun

nard (countable and uncountable, plural nards)

1. A flowering plant of species Nardostachys jatamansi, in the valerian family, that grows in the Himalayas and is used as a perfume, an incense, a sedative, and an herbal medicine.
2. A fragrant oil from the plant, formerly much prized.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark xiiij:[3], folio lxvj, recto:

     […] there cam a womã with an alablaſter boxe of oyntment / called narde / that was pure and coſtly / and ſhe brake the boxe ãd powred it on his heed.

   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 182:

     The Roman poet Horace refers to a lecherous old fop "scented with nard."

3. American spikenard (Aralia racemosa), a North American perennial herb with an aromatic root.

Synonyms

• nardus (obsolete)
• (Nardostachys jatamansi): nardin, muskroot

Derived terms

• Indian nard
• spikenard

Translations

Nardostachys jatamansi — see spikenard

fragrant oil — see spikenard

References

• nard on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Nardostachys jatamansi on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• “nard”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• nard, in Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1987.

Etymology 2

Alteration of nuts (“testicles”) or nads (“gonads”).

Noun

nard (plural nards)

1. (US, 1980s, slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.

   The soccer ball hit me right in the nards!

   • 2006, Max Brooks, World War Z:

     I’m sure whoever was in charge must have been one of the last of the Fulda Fucktards, you know, those generals who spent their nard-drop years training to defend West Germany from Ivan.

   • 2026, Samantha Riley, “On No, I'm Still Talking” (15:08 from the start), in Anthony Chun, director, DANG!, season 1, episode 7, spoken by Cliff, via Netflix:

     Andrew, I gotta say, we go way back, and for most of that time, you've just straight-up sucked nards. Unpleasant to be around. Real nervous little bitch energy. But today, you're like 5% less that stuff.

Synonyms

• (testicles): ball, nut

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Persian نرد (nard)

Alternative forms

• narde

Noun

nard (uncountable)

1. A Persian game similar to backgammon.

Anagrams

• DNAR, DNRA, RAND, Rand, andr-, darn, rDNA, rand, rdna

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin nardus (“spikenard”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Northwestern) [ˈnart]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈnaɾt]

Noun

nard m (plural nards)

1. tuberose (Agave amica)

Further reading

• “nard”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

French

Etymology

From Latin nardus.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

nard m (plural nards)

1. (botany) matgrass (Nardus)

Derived terms

• nard celtique
• nard de Crète
• nard de montagne
• nard indien
• nard indique
• nard raide
• nard sauvage

Further reading

• Littré, Émile (1873–1878), “nard”, in Dictionnaire de la langue française, Paris: L. Hachette
• “nard”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Noun

nard

1. alternative form of narde

Old English

Etymology

From Latin nardus.

Noun

nard m

1. spikenard

Further reading

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “nard”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (in Old English), second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek νάρδος (nárdos)

Greek νάρδος (nárdos)bor.

Romanian nard

Borrowed from Greek νάρδος (nárdos).

Noun

nard m (uncountable)

1. nard (Nardostachys jatamansi)

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	nard	nardul
genitive-dative	nard	nardului
vocative	nardule

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νάρδος (nárdos), from Phoenician, from Sanskrit नलद (nálada, “Indian narde”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nârd/

Noun

nȁrd m inan (Cyrillic spelling на̏рд)

1. nard (plant or oil)

References

• “nard”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Volapük

Noun

nard (genitive narda, plural nards)

1. valerian

Declension

Declension of nard

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nard	nards
Genitive	narda	nardas
Dative	narde	nardes
Accusative	nardi	nardis
Predicative1	nardu	nardus
Vocative	o nard	o nards

1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

Further reading

• “nard”, in Vödabuk (in English, Esperanto, and Volapük)