Standard Lemma guide

saffron

adj · name · noun · verb · 14 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsæfɹən/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsæfɹɒn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈsæfɹən/
  • General-American: /ˈsæfɹɑn/
  • obsolete: /ˈsæfəɹn/
  • rhymes with -æfɹən
  • CMU ARPABET: S AE1 F R AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having an orange-yellow colour.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1794, Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, London: G.G. & J. Robinson, Volume 1, Chapter 9, p. 256, The sun was now set; but, under the dark branches of the almond trees, was seen the saffron glow of the west, spreading beyond the twilight of middle air.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Associated with Hinduism, Hindus or Hindu nationalism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: Indian politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A female given name from English; a rare flower name from the saffron.

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 plant of species Crocus sativus, a crocus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 2009, D. H. Sanaeinejad, S. N. Hosseini, Regression Models for Saffron Yields in Iran, Daoliang Li, Chunjiang Zhao (editors), Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture II, Volume 1, page 510, Usually the maximum temperature for October, November and December in the southern parts of Khorassan–the main saffron growing area of the Iran-does not exceed 20°C, while the minimum temperature reaches 0°C.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A spice (seasoning) and colouring agent made from the stigma and part of the style of the plant, sometimes or formerly also used as a dye and insect repellent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 1658, Thomas Muffet, The Theatre of Insects, [1634, Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum], quoted in 2008, Anna Suranyi, The Genius of the English Nation: Travel Writing and National Identity in Early Modern England, page 117-118, The Irish and Ireland people (who are frequently troubled with lice, and such as will fly, as they say, in summer) anoint their shirts with saffron, and to very good purpose, to drive away the lice, but after six months they wash their shirts again, putting fresh saffron into the lye.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: kesar

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

An orange-yellow colour, the colour of a lion's pelt.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: saffron yellow

Antonyms: none provided

7

verb

Meaning 7

To add saffron to (a food), for taste, colour etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • saffroned water, saffroned rice

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

verb

Meaning 8

To give a saffron colour to (something).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

verb

Meaning 9

To give a saffron colour to (something).

To dye (a fabric, garment, etc.) with a saffron-based dye.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1638, uncredited translator, Historie Naturall and Experimentall, of Life and Death by Francis Bacon, London: William Lee and Humphrey Mosley, p. 244, The same Irish, use to weare Saffroned Linnen, and Shirts; Which though it were, at first, devised to prevent Vermine, yet, howsoever, I take it, to be very usefull for Lengthening of Life [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To give a saffron colour to (something).

To colour (a metal or wooden surface) with a gilding product containing saffron.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Or warts, or wheales, it hangs upon her skinne.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

To embellish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

a shade of yellow tinged with orange

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: orange yellow

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: yellow, yellowness

Narrower terms: ocher, ochre

13

noun

Meaning 13

dried pungent stigmas of the Old World saffron crocus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: flavorer, flavourer, flavoring, flavouring, seasoner, seasoning

14

noun

Meaning 14

Old World crocus having purple or white flowers with aromatic pungent orange stigmas used in flavoring food

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: saffron crocus, Crocus sativus

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: crocus

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Aramaic צפרder. Arabic زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān)bor. Medieval Latin safranumbor. Old French safranbor. Middle English saffron English saffron Inherited from Middle English saffron, borrowed from Old French safran, borrowed from Medieval Latin safranum, borrowed from Arabic زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān), from Aramaic צפר.

Across languages

Translations

224 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: яркожълт (jarkožǎlt) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Catalan: safrà — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Finnish: sahraminkeltainen — having an orange-yellow colour
  • German: safrangelb — having an orange-yellow colour
  • German: safranfarbig — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Hindi: केसरी (kesrī) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Hindi: केसरिया (kesriyā) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Italian: zafferano — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Marathi: केसरी (kesrī) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Polish: szafranowy — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Portuguese: açafroado — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Romanian: șofrăniu — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Russian: шафра́нный (šafránnyj) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Russian: шафра́новый (šafránovyj) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Spanish: de azafrán — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Swedish: saffransfärgad — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Swedish: saffransgul — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Urdu: کیسری (kesrī) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Urdu: کیسریا (kesriyā) — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Volapük: safranayelovik — having an orange-yellow colour
  • Albanian: shafran — plant
  • Albanian: krrokull — plant
  • Arabic: زَعْفَرَان (zaʕfarān) — plant
  • Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfarān) — plant
  • Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfarān) — plant
  • Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfrān) — plant
  • Armenian: քրքում (kʻrkʻum) — plant
  • Asturian: azafrán — plant
  • Azerbaijani: zəfəran — plant
  • Bulgarian: шафран (šafran) — plant
  • Burmese: ကုံကုမံ (kumku.mam) — plant
  • Catalan: safranera — plant
  • Catalan: safrà — plant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 番紅花 /番红花 (fān hóng huā) — plant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 藏紅花 /藏红花 (zànghónghuā) — plant
  • Chinese Mandarin: 西紅花 /西红花 — plant
  • Cornish: safran — plant
  • Czech: šafrán — plant
  • Danish: safran — plant
  • Dargwa: загӏпиран (zaʿpiran) — plant
  • Dutch: saffraankrokus — plant
  • Esperanto: safrano — plant
  • Estonian: safran — plant
  • Faroese: safran — plant
  • Finnish: maustesahrami — plant
  • French: safran — plant
  • Friulian: zafaran — plant
  • Galician: azafrán — plant
  • Galician: sasafrán — plant
  • Georgian: ზაფრანა (zaprana) — plant
  • German: Safran — plant
  • Greek: κρόκος (krókos) — plant
  • Ancient Greek: κρόκος (krókos) — plant
  • Mycenaean Greek: 𐁉 (CROC) — plant
  • Hawaiian: keloko — plant
  • Hindi: केसर (kesar) — plant
  • Hindi: कुंकुम (kuṅkum) — plant
  • Hindi: कुमकुम (kumkum) — plant
  • Hindi: ज़ाफ़रान (zāfrān) — plant
  • Hungarian: sáfrány — plant
  • Ido: safrano — plant
  • Italian: zafferano — plant
  • Japanese: サフラン (safuran) — plant
  • Kannada: ಕೇಸರಿ (kēsari) — plant
  • Kashmiri: کۄنٛگ (kọng) — plant
  • Khmer: រមៀត (rɔɔrɔmiət) — plant
  • Lao: ຫຍ້າຝັ່ນ (nyā fan) — plant
  • Latin: crocus — plant
  • Latin: safranum — plant
  • Maltese: żagħfran — plant
  • Manx: crogh — plant
  • Marathi: केसर (kesar) — plant
  • Mongolian: гүргэм (gürgem) — plant
  • Norwegian Bokmål: safrankrokus — plant
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: safrankrokus — plant
  • Persian: زعفران (za'ferân) — plant
  • Piedmontese: safran — plant
  • Polish: szafran — plant
  • Polish: krokus — plant
  • Portuguese: açafrão — plant
  • Romagnol: ẓafarân — plant
  • Romanian: șofran — plant
  • Russian: шафра́н (šafrán) — plant
  • Sanskrit: कुङ्कुम (kuṅkuma) — plant
  • Serbo-Croatian: шафран — plant
  • Serbo-Croatian: šafran — plant
  • Slovak: šafran — plant
  • Slovene: žafran — plant
  • Spanish: azafrán — plant
  • Swahili: mzafarani — plant
  • Swedish: saffran — plant
  • Tamil: குங்குமப்பூ (kuṅkumappū) — plant
  • Thai: หญ้าฝรั่น (ya faran) — plant
  • Turkish: safran — plant
  • Turkmen: zagpyran — plant
  • Urdu: کیسر (kesar) — plant
  • Urdu: زعفران (za'farān) — plant
  • Venetan: croco — plant
  • Venetan: zafran — plant
  • Vietnamese: nghệ tây — plant
  • Volapük: safranakrok — plant
  • Afrikaans: saffraan — spice
  • Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfarān) — spice
  • Arabic: زعفران (zaʕfrān) — spice
  • Armenian: քրքում (kʻrkʻum) — spice
  • Asturian: azafrán — spice
  • Azerbaijani: zəfəran — spice
  • Bulgarian: шафран (šafran) — spice
  • Burmese: ကုံကုမံ (kumku.mam) — spice
  • Catalan: safrà — spice
  • Chinese Cantonese: 番紅花 /番红花 (faan1 hung4 faa1) — spice
  • Cornish: safran — spice
  • Czech: šafrán — spice
  • Dhivehi: ކުކުން (kukun̊) — spice
  • Dutch: saffraan — spice
  • Esperanto: safrano — spice
  • Finnish: sahrami — spice
  • French: safran — spice
  • Galician: azafrán — spice
  • Galician: sasafrán — spice
  • Georgian: ყვითელი ყვავილი (q̇viteli q̇vavili) — spice
  • Georgian: ზაფრანა (zaprana) — spice
  • German: Safran — spice
  • Greek: κρόκος (krókos) — spice
  • Greek: ζαφορά (zaforá) — spice
  • Ancient Greek: κρόκος (krókos) — spice
  • Gujarati: કેસર (kesar) — spice
  • Hawaiian: keloko — spice
  • Hebrew: זְעַפְרָן — spice
  • Hindi: केसर (kesar) — spice
  • Hungarian: sáfrány — spice
  • Icelandic: saffran — spice
  • Ido: safrano — spice
  • Indonesian: kuma-kuma — spice
  • Irish: cróch — spice
  • Italian: zafferano — spice
  • Japanese: サフラン (safuran) — spice
  • Kannada: ಕೇಸರಿ (kēsari) — spice
  • Kashmiri: کۄنٛگ (kọng) — spice
  • Latin: crocus — spice
  • Macedonian: шафран (šafran) — spice
  • Malay: kuma-kuma — spice
  • Malay: kumkuma — spice
  • Maltese: żagħfran — spice
  • Manx: crogh — spice
  • Marathi: केसर (kesar) — spice
  • Marathi: केशर (keśar) — spice
  • Nepali: केशर (keśar) — spice
  • Norwegian Bokmål: safran — spice
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: safran — spice
  • Persian: زعفران (za'ferân) — spice
  • Polish: szafran — spice
  • Portuguese: açafrão — spice
  • Punjabi: ਕੇਸਰ (kesar) — spice
  • Romanian: șofran — spice
  • Russian: шафра́н (šafrán) — spice
  • Sanskrit: केसर (kesara) — spice
  • Serbo-Croatian: шафран — spice
  • Serbo-Croatian: šafran — spice
  • Sinhalese: කුංකුම (kuṁkuma) — spice
  • Slovak: šafrán — spice
  • Slovene: žafran — spice
  • Spanish: azafrán — spice
  • Swahili: zafarani — spice
  • Swedish: saffran — spice
  • Tagalog: asapran — spice
  • Tamil: குங்குமப்பூ (kuṅkumappū) — spice
  • Telugu: కుంకుమపువ్వు (kuṅkumapuvvu) — spice
  • Turkish: safran — spice
  • Welsh: saffrwm — spice
  • Welsh: saffrwn — spice
  • Armenian: քրքում (kʻrkʻum) — dye
  • Catalan: safrà — dye
  • Dutch: saffraan — dye
  • Galician: azafrán — dye
  • Galician: sasafrán — dye
  • German: Safran — dye
  • Hindi: केसरी (kesrī) — dye
  • Hindi: केसरिया (kesriyā) — dye
  • Hungarian: sáfrány — dye
  • Italian: zafferano — dye
  • Manx: crogh — dye
  • Marathi: केसरी (kesrī) — dye
  • Norwegian Bokmål: safran — dye
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: safran — dye
  • Persian: زعفرانی (za'ferâni) — dye
  • Polish: szafran — dye
  • Portuguese: açafrão — dye
  • Romanian: șofran — dye
  • Russian: шафра́н (šafrán) — dye
  • Turkish: safran — dye
  • Urdu: کیسری (kesrī) — dye
  • Urdu: کیسریا (kesriyā) — dye
  • Armenian: քրքում (kʻrkʻum) — colour
  • Bulgarian: яркожълт (jarkožǎlt) — colour
  • Catalan: safrà — colour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 藏紅花色 /藏红花色 — colour
  • Finnish: sahraminkeltainen — colour
  • French: safran — colour
  • Georgian: ზაფრანის ფერი (zapranis peri) — colour
  • German: Safranfarbe — colour
  • German: Safrangelb — colour
  • Greek: βαθυκίτρινο (vathykítrino) — colour
  • Hindi: केसरी (kesrī) — colour
  • Hindi: केसरिया (kesriyā) — colour
  • Hindi: भगवा (bhagvā) — colour
  • Hungarian: sáfránysárga — colour
  • Italian: zafferano — colour
  • Japanese: サフラン色 (safuran-iro) — colour
  • Kannada: ಕೇಸರಿ (kēsari) — colour
  • Marathi: केसरी (kesrī) — colour
  • Norwegian: safran — colour
  • Polish: szafran — colour
  • Polish: (kolor) szafranowy — colour
  • Portuguese: açafrão — colour
  • Romanian: șofran — colour
  • Spanish: azafrán — colour
  • Swahili: rangi ya zafarani — colour
  • Swedish: saffran — colour
  • Turkish: safran — colour
  • Urdu: کیسری (kesrī) — colour
  • Urdu: کیسریا (kesriyā) — colour
  • Volapük: safranayelov — colour
  • Spanish: azafranar — to add saffron to