perilla

noun

pe·​ril·​la pə-ˈri-lə 

: any of a genus (Perilla) of Asian mints that have a bilabiate fruiting calyx and rugose nutlets

Examples of perilla in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Begin at the front entrance to the art museum, where artist Ginger Brooks Takahashi created a garden using the perilla plant, exploring how it's used in different traditions across Asia. — Kristine Sorensen, CBS News, 22 May 2026

This easygoing collection of tropical-punch colors combines pale caladiums with rosy centers, purple-and-green Magilla perilla, the dark purple leaves of calathea 'Dottie', and a few ferns (including a feathery ghost fern). — Midwest Living, 22 Apr. 2026

Red or purple perilla has a taste between licorice and cinnamon and is used primarily for flavoring and coloring drinks. — Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 20 Mar. 2026

Its funky mysteries flicker in my brain until the perilla sorbet a couple of courses later washes it away. — Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, genus name, of unknown origin

Note: Taxon introduced by Linnaeus in Genera plantarum, 6th edition, (Stockholm, 1764), p. 578. Linnaeus gives no source or explanation for the coinage. The name Perilla is known in Latin literature from poems addressed by Ovid to a real or pseudonymous "Perilla," though inscriptional evidence for such a given name in Rome is apparently lacking.

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for perilla

• axilla
• flotilla
• gorilla
• guerilla
• guerrilla
• manilla
• mantilla
• maxilla
• mesilla
• papilla
• priscilla
• scintilla