Standard Lemma guide

melissa

name · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /məˈlɪsə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪsə
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /məˈlɪsə/
  • CMU ARPABET: M AH0 L IH1 S AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

Bee-nymph in Greek mythology.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Greek

Topics: human-sciences, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A female given name from Ancient Greek, popular in the latter half of the 20th century.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A plant of the genus Melissa, especially lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), often used medicinally.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a genus of Old World mints of the family Labiatae

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: genus Melissa

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: asterid dicot genus

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέλισσα (mélissa, “bee, honey, or honeybee”). In Ireland it is sometimes used as a feminine form of the Gaelic male name Maol Íosa (literally “servant of Jesus”).

From Late Latin melissa, from Ancient Greek μέλισσα (mélissa, “bee”), because the plant attracts bees.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: Meljisa — female given name
  • Cherokee: ᎺᎵᏌ (melisa) — female given name
  • Chinese Cantonese: 梅麗莎 /梅丽莎 — female given name
  • Chinese Mandarin: 梅利莎 (Méilìshā) — female given name
  • Danish: Melissa — female given name
  • Finnish: Melissa — female given name
  • French: Mélissa — female given name
  • German: Melissa — female given name
  • Greek: Μέλισσα (Mélissa) — female given name
  • Irish: Maolíosa — female given name
  • Italian: Melissa — female given name
  • Japanese: メリッサ (Merissa) — female given name
  • Korean: 멜리사 (Mellisa) — female given name
  • Persian: ملیسا (melisâ) — female given name
  • Portuguese: Melissa — female given name
  • Russian: Мелисса — female given name
  • Serbo-Croatian: Мелиса — female given name
  • Serbo-Croatian: Melisa — female given name
  • Swedish: Melissa — female given name
  • Thai: เมลิสสา (Melis̄s̄ā) — female given name
  • Turkish: Melisa — female given name
  • Catalan: melisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蜜蜂花 (mìfēnghuā) — plant of genus Melissa
  • Dutch: melisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • Esperanto: meliso — plant of genus Melissa
  • Finnish: melissa — plant of genus Melissa
  • French: mélisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • German: Melisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • Hungarian: citromfű — plant of genus Melissa
  • Macedonian: мати́чина (matíčina) — plant of genus Melissa
  • Macedonian: мато́чина (matóčina) — plant of genus Melissa
  • Norwegian Bokmål: melisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: melisse — plant of genus Melissa
  • Polish: melisa — plant of genus Melissa
  • Polish: rojownik — plant of genus Melissa
  • Russian: мели́сса (melíssa) — plant of genus Melissa
  • Serbo-Croatian: matičnjak — plant of genus Melissa
  • Serbo-Croatian: melisa — plant of genus Melissa
  • Slovene: melisa — plant of genus Melissa
  • Swedish: meliss — plant of genus Melissa
Real reading context

melissa in complete knowledge articles