Shrinking Violet

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Meaning:

Shrinking Violet means A shy or modest person.

Origin:

This phrase is kind of funny, it is not a girl named violet that shrinks down in size, but instead a flower that discreetly recoils due to being shy.

The Viola family of flowers includes violets and pansies, which are colorful socializers that seem just the opposite of shy. However, the phrase 'shrinking violet' was coined in the UK, The native English violet (also known as the wood violet) is, a reclusive and understated flower.

The first written record was from The Indicator in 1820, where the poet Leigh Hunt drew attention to the modest wood violet:

There was the buttercup, struggling from a white to a dirty yellow; and a faint-coloured poppy; and here and there by the thorny underwood a shrinking violet.

This poem was talking about the flower and not a person, we have to move a bit more into the future to see the first account of “shrinking violet” explaining a person.

The Titusville Herald, 1870 it read:

"...deputations of the tax payers of New York waiting upon Mr. Tweed with the title-deeds of their mansions and the shrinking violet Tweed begging them to pardon his rosy blushes…”

Example:

Today we still use the term shrinking violet to explain a shy person, someone who does not step out of their comfort zone, an example sentence is:

After years of being seen as nothing more than a shrinking violet, Christine decided to overcome her fears and start talking to strangers.

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