wallflower

See also: wall-flower and wall flower

English

WOTD – 27 November 2009

Alternative forms

wall-flower, wall flower

Etymology

From wall ‎ flower.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːlˌflaʊ.ə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔlˌflaʊ.ɚ/, /ˈwɑlˌflaʊ.ɚ/
Audio (General Australian): (file)

Noun

wallflower (plural wallflowers)

Any of several short-lived herbs or shrubs of the Erysimum genus with bright yellow to red flowers.
- 1809, William Nicholson, “BOTANY”, in The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […], volume I (A … B), London: Printed by C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, column 1:
  A polypetalous corolla is either cruciform, as in a wall-flower, rosaceous, papilionaceous, as in the pea kind, or incomplete, when some parts found in analogous flowers are wanting.
Gastrolobium grandiflorum, a poisonous bushy shrub, endemic to Australia.
A person who does not dance at a party, due to shyness or unpopularity; by extension, anyone who is left on the sidelines while an activity takes place.
- 1878, Fannie Bean, Dr. Mortimer's Patient: A Novel, page 23:
  Mrs. Galbraith shook all over with laughter as she replied, "Hear that boy, asking me to dance ! I'm content to be a wallflower, now-a-days."
- 1885, The Freemason's Repository, page 133:
  And now, by virtue of his office, he is entitled to a seat in the Grand Lodge. Is it any wonder he is a wall-flower there […]
- 1897, Mrs. C. E. Humphry, Manners for Women, page 53:
  It is a triumph, of course, to have plenty of partners, and not to be a wallflower for a single dance.
- 1913, Plasterer, page 8:
  Jack Breen was a wallflower; still at the same time I noticed he was cultivating an ornamental smile — a Jack of Trumps, you bet.
- 1921, Collier's, page 3:
  She was a wallflower in a sleepy little town itself a wallflower. She was a joke to the village wits and a byword to the village belles.
- 2013 May 22, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, May 22, 2013:
  "Where--oh. Hidden in the corner. You two aren't already going all wallflower, are you?" "We are not wallflowers." "To be fair, I can be. But then I get mad at myself for it and get all loud and snarky."
- 2017, Sam Wasson, Improv Nation: How We Made a Great American Art, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 94:
  Second City was a wallflower at the show business ball. It needed to be. Improvisers needed to fail, and fail safely; and in the Midwest, far from Broadway and Hollywood, they really could. Second-class stature was the secret ingredient, ...
(informal) Any person who is socially awkward, shy, or reserved.
- 2019, Liz Tyner, To Win a Wallflower, Harlequin, →ISBN:
  I've always been a wallflower, even in my own home. But, I'm willing to learn to be a part of your world. I would like to. I have already told my parents that I want to go to soirées.

Derived terms

Translations

herb of the Erysimum genus

Arabic: خَيْرِيّ m (ḵayriyy), قَصِيصَة f (qaṣīṣa)
Armenian: շահպրակ (hy) (šahprak)
Azerbaijani:
Arabic: ساریلیق اوْتو

Latin: sarılıqotu
Bulgarian: шибо́й (bg) m (šibój), боя́нка f (bojánka)
Catalan: erísim m
Danish: hjørneklap c
Dutch: steenraket (nl) f, muurbloem (nl) m or f
Finnish: ukonnauris (fi)
French: vélar (fr) m, herbe aux chantres (fr)
Galician: alecrín m
German: Goldlack m, Lackstock m, Lackviole f, Schöterich m
Hebrew: אריסימון m (erisimón)
Hungarian: sárgaviola (hu), téli viola
Icelandic: gulltoppur m
Irish: lus an bhalla m
Italian: violaciocca f
Kazakh: сарыбасшөп (sarybasşöp)
Latin: īriō m
Macedonian: шебој m (šeboj)
Persian: خیری (fa) (xeyri), شب‌بوی (šab-bôy)
Polish: pszonak (pl) m, lak (pl) m (especially E. cheiri)
Portuguese: goivo (pt) m, goiveira f
Romanian: micsandră-sălbatică (ro) f, micsandră-de-munte (ro) f, micșunea (ro) f
Russian: желтофио́ль (ru) (želtofiólʹ), желту́шник (ru) m (želtúšnik)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: шѐбој m

Latin: šèboj (sh) m
Slovene: šebọ̑j m
Spanish: alhelí (es) m
Swedish: gyllenlack (sv), kårel c
Turkish: şebboy (tr)

Gastrolobium grandiflorum

person who does not dance at a party

Finnish: seinäkukkanen, seinäruusu (fi), seinäkoriste
German: Mauerblümchen (de) n
Hungarian: (idiomatic) petrezselymet árul (literally “to sell parsley”)
Russian: тихо́ня (ru) m or f (tixónja)

socially awkward person

Chinese:
Mandarin: 壁花
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: seinäkukkanen
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Mauerblümchen (de) n
Greek: please add this translation if you can
Hebrew: פרח קיר m (pérakh kir)
Hungarian: félrehúzódó ember
Icelandic: veggjaskraut n, bekkjarrós f
Italian: please add this translation if you can
Japanese: 壁の花 (かべのはな, kabe no hana)
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian: veggpryd m
Polish: ktoś podpierający ściany
Russian: тихо́ня (ru) m or f (tixónja)
Spanish: inadaptado (es), feo del baile, fea del baile
Swedish: blyg viol, vägglus (sv)
Thai: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 香罗兰 (xiāng luó lán), ^{(please verify)} 局外人 (zh) (júwàirén) (júwàirén)

Verb

wallflower (third-person singular simple present wallflowers, present participle wallflowering, simple past and past participle wallflowered)

(intransitive) To stand shyly apart from a dance, waiting to be asked to join in.
- 2010, Alexandra Carter, Janet O'Shea, The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, page 237:
  […] the idea that a full tango experience is impossible without the presence of wallflowers and without the threat of wallflowering as the potential dancers enter the tango club.