jessamine

IPA/ˈdʒes.ə.mɪn/
KK[dʒˈɛsəmɪn]IPA/ˈdʒes.ə.mɪn/

jessamine — noun

  • jessaminesingular
  • jessaminesplural

1. A climbing plant that grows on walls or fences, producing many small flowers wit

1.nounC1
Definition

A climbing plant that grows on walls or fences, producing many small flowers with a sweet smell; the flowers are often white, yellow, or pink.

Example

The jessamine covering the back wall of Suki's house had small white flowers.

jessamine + covering [surface] — climbing habit pattern

Every summer, the scent of jessamine fills the garden near Vikram's kitchen window.

collocation: scent of jessamine

Common collocations
  • white jessamine
  • yellow jessamine
  • Carolina jessamine
  • jessamine flower
  • jessamine vine
  • scent of jessamine
  • climbing jessamine
Synonyms
  • jasmine

    far more common name for the same group of plants; 'jasmine' is used in everyday contexts while 'jessamine' appears more in botanical or historical writing

Grammar Patterns

jessamine + verb (grows, climbs, flowers)

Usage Note

Countable when referring to an individual plant (a jessamine) or a variety; uncountable when referring to the plant generally (a wall covered with jessamine). Less common in everyday speech than 'jasmine', but the two words often refer to the same plant.

Common Mistakes

Jessamine and jasmine are completely different plants.
Jessamine and jasmine usually refer to the same type of plant
jessamine is simply an older, less common name.' — The two names overlap in meaning for the most common garden species.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Jessamine and jasmine are essentially the same plant — both refer to species in the genus Jasminum, known for their sweetly scented, small flowers. The main difference is usage: 'jasmine' is the everyday word, while 'jessamine' is an older English variant, now less common but still found in botanical names like Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens). Honeysuckle (忍冬) is another climbing plant with fragrant flowers, but its blooms are tubular rather than star-shaped and appear in pairs, not clusters. Clematis (鐵線蓮) also climbs, but its flowers have no scent, so the word focuses purely on the visual display of large, colourful petals rather than fragrance.

jessamine ↗jasmine ↗honeysuckle ↗clematis

Etymology

PersianArabicFrenchEnglish

Jessamine entered English in the 1500s from French 'jasmin', which came from Arabic 'yāsamīn', itself borrowed from Persian 'yāsaman'. The spelling with a double 's' and the '-ine' ending was influenced by the French form 'jessemin' and later Latin botanical naming conventions. Over time, 'jasmine' became the standard spelling in English, while 'jessamine' survived mainly in traditional plant names and older gardening writing.