百合

Named “hundred-union”, for the numerous segmented and overlapping scales on the bulb of the lily. The lily is traditionally a propitious sign of a blissful, long-lasting marriage; see the idiom 百年好合 (bǎiniánhǎohé).

The sense “yuri; lesbian” is a semantic loan and an orthographic borrowing from Japanese 百合 (yuri).

百合

1. lily (flower or bulb)
2. (ACG slang) yuri; lesbianism

• (lily flower):

• (lily bulb): (Hokkien) 國白／国白

Probably the nominalization of the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of classical verb 揺る (yuru, “to sway, to swing, to wave back and forth”), from the way that lilies tend to grow tall and sway in the breeze.

The spelling is an orthographic borrowing from Chinese 百合 (bǎihé), indicating the way that lily bulbs cluster together—合わす (awasu, “to gather, combine”)—in large numbers, as in 百 (hyaku, literally “hundred”).

For information on the slang for homosexuality, see Yuri (genre).

• (Tokyo) ゆり [yùrí] (Heiban – [0])[1]
• IPA^(key): [jɯ̟ᵝɾʲi]

百合(ゆり) or 百合(ユリ) • (yuri) 

1. (botany) lily
2. a style of 襲の色目 (kasane no irome, “color scheme of layering garments”), featuring a red outer layer and a reddish-gold inner layer, and worn in summer (from the way the color scheme resembles the coloration of the petals of certain varieties of lily)
3. (slang) yuri, manga or other media depicting attraction, romance or sexual relationship between women, usually lesbians
   • 2015 February 25, “Dansei ga ‘yuri’ (gāruzurabu) ni moeru riyū [The reason men enjoy ‘yuri’ (girls love)]”, in Mainabi News‎:

     だったらむしろ、レズビアンや百合(ゆり)のほうが楽(たの)しめるというわけなんです。男(だん)性(せい)が百合(ゆり)に萌(も)えるのは、性(せい)に対(たい)するファンタジーなのかもしれません。

     Dattara mushiro, rezubian ya yuri no hō ga tanoshimeru to iu wake nan desu. Dansei ga yuri ni moeru no wa, sei ni taisuru fantajī na no kamoshiremasen.

     If that's the case, it seems to be the reason that they enjoy lesbians or yuri. That a man fancies yuri, it is likely a sexual fantasy.

• 笹(ササ)百合(ユリ) (sasayuri, “Japanese or bamboo lily (Lilium japonicum)”)

• → English: yuri
• → Chinese: 百合 (bǎihé, “yuri”)
• → Korean: 백합(百合) (baekhap, “yuri”), 유리 (yuri, “yuri”)
• → Russian: ю́ри (júri)
• → Ukrainian: ю́рі (júri)

百合(ゆり) • (Yuri) 

1. a female given name

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

百合 • (baekhap) (hangeul 백합)

1. Hanja form^? of 백합 (“lily”).

百合

1. chữ Hán form of bách hợp (“Lilium pumilum”).