Jasmine is a plant with small, sweet-smelling white or yellow flowers. Many kinds climb a wall, a fence, or a frame; though actually not every jasmine climbs — some are bushes, and the yellow kind that flowers in winter can look quite bare except for the blooms. People grow it for the scent. The smell also goes into tea, oil, and perfume, so you may know the flower by your nose before you know the English name. In English it is an ordinary plant word, not slang, not fancy. Jasmine is also a girl’s name taken from the flower, and you will see jasmine rice on menus — rice named for a similar sweet smell, not because the plant is cooked with it. Garden shops sometimes sell “star jasmine” that is not true jasmine; people still call it that because it climbs and smells sweet. The core picture for this word is the real jasmine plant: small pale flowers, a strong sweet smell, often growing up something.