Meaning & use
scilla
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A small plant that grows from a bulb and has bell-shaped blue, white, or pink flowers in early spring.
Grammar: Countable; use a/an or the plural scillas.
Patterns
- a scilla
- scillas in bloom
The garden was full of scillas in early March.
She planted scillas along the path because they flower before most other bulbs.
A single scilla pushed up through the frost.
Word forms
| plural | scillas |
|---|
Common combinations
- scilla bulb
- Plant the scilla bulbs about three inches deep.
- scilla flower
- The scilla flowers are tiny but very bright.
- a patch of scillas
- There is a patch of scillas under the oak tree.
Synonyms and how they differ
- squill
- Squill is the older common name for the same plant, but it is now less used in everyday speech.
Word family
- scillaren noun
- A substance obtained from certain scilla species, used in medicine.
Commonly confused: scilla or scylla?
scilla vs scylla
Scylla is a monster in Greek mythology, not a plant. The spelling is different: scilla has a double l and no y.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'scilla' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Scilla is a small spring-flowering bulb plant. The other options describe a whale, a saw, and a food, none of which is a scilla.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scilla”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.