a violet, Viola tricolor hortensis, cultivated in many varieties, having richly and variously colored flowers.
2.
the flower of this plant.
3.
Slang:Disparaging and Offensive.
a.
a male homosexual.
b.
a weak, effeminate, and often cowardly man.
Origin: 1490–1500; 1930–35 for def. 3; < MF pensée pansy, lit., thought, n. use of fem. of ptp. of penser to think < L pēnsāre to weigh, consider. See pensive
c.1450, from M.Fr. pensée "a pansy," lit. "thought, remembrance," from fem. pp. of penser "to think," from L. pensare "consider," freq. of pendere "to weigh" (see pensive). So called because it was regarded as a symbol of thought or remembrance. Meaning "effeminate homosexual man" is first recorded 1929.