英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

anther [anther 词源字典]: anther: [18] Greek ánthos originally meant ‘part of a plant which grows above ground’ (this was the basis of the Homeric ‘metaphor’ translated as ‘flower of youth’, which originally referred to the first growth of beard on young men’s faces). Later it narrowed somewhat to ‘flower’. The adjective derived from it was anthērós, which was borrowed into Latin as anthēra, a noun meaning ‘medicine made from flowers’.

In practice, herbalists often made such medicines from the reproductive part of the flower, and so anther came to be applied to the pollen-bearing part of the stamen. More remote semantically, but also derived from Greek ánthos, is anthology [17]. The second element represents Greek logíā ‘collecting’, a derivative of the verb legein ‘gather’ (which is related to legend and logic).

The notion of a collection of flowers, anthologíā, was applied metaphorically to a selection of choice epigrams or brief poems: borrowed into English, via French anthologie or medieval Latin anthologia, it was originally restricted to collections of Greek verse, but by the mid 19th century its application had broadened out considerably. The parallel Latin formation, florilegium, also literally ‘collection of flowers’, has occasionally been used in English for ‘anthology’.
=> anthology[anther etymology, anther origin, 英语词源]
celandine: celandine: [12] Etymologically the celandine, a buttercup-like spring flower, is the ‘swallow’s’ flower. Its name comes, via Old French, from Greek khelidonion, which was based on khelidon ‘swallow’. The original reference was no doubt to the appearance of the flowers around the time when the swallows began to arrive in Europe from Africa. Its juice was used in former times as a remedy for poor eyesight, and, no doubt in an over-interpretation of the name, it was said that swallows used the juice to boost the sight of their young.
corollary: corollary: [14] Latin corolla was a ‘little crown or garland’, typically made from flowers (the word was a diminutive form of corōna ‘crown’, source of English crown). Hence a corollārium was ‘money paid for such a garland’, and by extension ‘gratuity’. Later it developed the meaning ‘deduction’, applied in geometry to a subsidiary proposition dependent on a previous proof, the sense in which it was first borrowed into English. (English acquired corolla itself in the 17th century.)
=> coronary, crown
flora: flora: [16] Latin flōs meant ‘flower’ (it was the source of English flower). From it was derived Flora, the name given to the Roman goddess of flowers. English took over the term in this mythological sense, and in the 17th century it began to be used in the titles of botanical works (for example John Ray’s Flora, seu de florum cultura ‘Flora, or concerning the cultivation of flowers’).

In particular, it was used for books describing all the plants in a particular area or country, and in the 18th century it came, like its animal counterpart fauna, to be applied as a collective term to such plants. The adjective floral [17] comes from Latin flōs.
=> flower
heliotrope: heliotrope: [17] The heliotrope, a plant of the forget-me-not family, gets its name because its flowers always turn to face the sun (the word comes via Latin hēliotropium from Greek hēliotrópion, a compound formed from hélios ‘sun’ and -tropos ‘turning’ – as in English trophy and tropical – which designated such plants, and was also used for ‘sundial’).

In early times the word was applied to the ‘sunflower’, which has similar heliotactic habits and in Italian is called girasole (literally ‘turn-sun’), source of the Jerusalem in English Jerusalem artichoke. Another application of Greek hēliotrópion carried over into English was to a sort of green quartz which was believed to turn the sun’s rays blood-red if thrown into water.
=> trophy, tropical
hyacinth: hyacinth: [16] Greek huákinthos denoted a plant with deep red flowers which according to legend sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus, a beautiful youth whom Apollo loved but accidentally killed. It probably came from some pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language, and was remodelled in Greek on the basis of Hyacinthus’s name. It is not clear what sort of plant the original hyacinth was, but by the time the word reached English (via Latin hyacinthus and French hyacinthe) it had been adopted for the bluebell and its immediate relatives.

Greek huákinthos was also used for a variety of precious stone, probably originally the sapphire. This meaning too followed the word into English, but is now little used, having been taken over by jacinth [13] – itself a descendant of Latin hyacinthus.
=> jacinth
lilac: lilac: [17] Like the river Nile, the lilac gets its name from its colour. The Sanskrit word for ‘dark blue’ was nīla. This passed into Persian as nīl, from which was derived nīlak ‘bluish’. This developed a variant līlak, which English acquired via Arabic līlak, Spanish lilac, and early modern French lilac. Along the way it was applied to a shrub of the genus Syringa, on account of its mauve flowers.
pansy: pansy: [15] French pensée means literally ‘thought’, and it was presumably the pensive look of these flowers of the viola family that earned them the name. English originally took it over as pensee, but later anglicized it to pansy. The use of the word for an effeminate male homosexual dates from the 1920s. French pensée itself is the feminine past participle of penser ‘think’ (source also of English pensive [14]). This was descended from Latin pēnsāre ‘weigh’, which in post-classical times was used for ‘think’.
=> pensive
pink: pink: English has three distinct words pink. The colour term [18] appears to have come, by a bizarre series of twists, from an early Dutch word meaning ‘small’. This was pinck (source also of the colloquial English pinkie ‘little finger’ [19]). It was used in the phrase pinck oogen, literally ‘small eyes’, hence ‘half-closed eyes’, which was borrowed into English and partially translated as pink eyes.

It has been speculated that this was a name given to a plant of the species Dianthus, which first emerged in the abbreviated form pink in the 16th century. Many of these plants have pale red flowers, and so by the 18th century pink was being used for ‘pale red’. Pink ‘pierce’ [14], now preserved mainly in pinking shears, is probably of Low German origin (Low German has pinken ‘peck’).

And pink (of an engine) ‘make knocking sounds’ [20] is presumably imitative in origin.
rosary: rosary: [14] Rosary comes from Latin rosārium ‘rose garden’, a derivative of rosa ‘rose’. It was a common conceit in the Middle Ages to name collections of verse or similar short pieces after bunches of flowers (anthology comes from the Greek word for ‘flower’, and a similar inspiration underlies florilegium, while a 13thcentury volume of the collected works of the Persian poet Sa’di was called the Rose garden).

That was the background against which a collection of Roman Catholic prayers, consisting of Aves, Paternosters, and Glorias, came to be known as a rosary. A string of beads of varying sizes came to be used for counting off how far one has got in saying these prayers (English bead itself comes from a word meaning ‘prayer’), and this too was termed rosary.
=> rose
snapdragon: snapdragon: [16] The herbalist John Gerard (no feminist, evidently) gave the reason why antirrhinums were called snapdragons: ‘The flowers [are] fashioned like a dragon’s mouth; from whence the women have taken the name Snapdragon’, Herbal 1597. The term was also used from the early 18th century for a party game which involved picking raisins out of a bowl of burning brandy and eating them while they were still alight – the allusion being of course to the dragon’s firebreathing habits.
spike: spike: English has two etymologically distinct words spike, although they are so similar in meaning that they are commonly regarded as one and the same. Spike ‘long sharp piece’ [13] was probably borrowed from Middle Dutch spīker. It has another relative in Swedish spik ‘nail’, and goes back ultimately to prehistoric Germanic *speik-, *spaik- (source also of English spoke).

The spick of spick and span [17] is a variant of spike. The expression is an elaboration of an earlier span-new ‘brand-new’, which was borrowed from Old Norse spánnýr ‘as new as a new chip of wood’ (spánn ‘chip’ is related to English spoon, which originally meant ‘chip’). The spick was added in imitation of Dutch spiksplinter nieuw ‘spike-splinter new’. Spike ‘ear of corn, arrangement of flowers on a stalk similar to this’ [14] was borrowed from Latin spīca, a close relative of spīna ‘thorn’ (source of English spine). Spīca is also ultimately responsible for English spigot [14], perhaps via the diminutive spiculum; and it forms the first syllable of spikenard [14], the name of a sort of ancient aromatic ointment or of the plant that probably produced it.
=> spick; spigot, spine, spoke
aloe (n.): Old English alewe "fragrant resin of an East Indian tree," a Biblical usage, from Latin aloe, from Greek aloe, translating Hebrew ahalim (plural, perhaps ultimately from a Dravidian language).

The Greek word probably was chosen for resemblance of sound to the Hebrew, because the Greek and Latin words referred originally to a genus of plants with spiky flowers and bitter juice, used as a purgative drug, a sense which appeared in English late 14c. The word was then misapplied to the American agave plant in 1680s. The "true aloe" consequently is called aloe vera.
anther (n.): 1550s, "medical extract of flowers," from French anthère, from Modern Latin anthera "a medicine extracted from a flower," from Greek anthera, fem. of antheros "flowery, blooming," from anthos "flower," from PIE root *andh- "to bloom" (cognates: Sanskrit andhas "herb," Armenian and "field," Middle Irish ainder "young girl," Welsh anner "young cow"). Main modern sense attested by 1791.
anthology (n.): 1630s, "collection of poetry," from Latin anthologia, from Greek anthologia "collection of small poems and epigrams by several authors," literally "flower-gathering," from anthos "a flower" (see anther) + logia "collection, collecting," from legein "gather" (see lecture (n.)). Modern sense (which emerged in Late Greek) is metaphoric, "flowers" of verse, small poems by various writers gathered together.
artificial (adj.): late 14c., in the phrase artificial day "part of the day from sunrise to sunset," from Old French artificial, from Latin artificialis "of or belonging to art," from artificium (see artifice). Meaning "made by man" (opposite of natural) is from early 15c. Applied to things that are not natural, whether real (artificial light) or not (artificial flowers). Artificial insemination dates from 1897. Artificial intelligence "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines" was coined in 1956.
aspirin (n.): coined 1899 by German chemist Heinrich Dreser (1860-1924) in German as a trademark name, from Latin Spiraea (ulmaria) "meadow-sweet," the plant in whose flowers or leaves the processed acid in the medicine is naturally found, + common chemical ending -in (see -ine (2)). Spiraea (Tournefort, 1700) is from Latinized form of Greek speiraia "meadow-sweet," so called from the shape of its follicles (see spiral (adj.)). The initial -a- is to acknowledge acetylation; Dreser said the word was a contraction of acetylierte spirsäure, the German name of the acid, which now is obsolete, replaced by salicylic acid.
Die Bezeichnung Aspirin ist abgeleitet aus "Spirsäure" -- alter Name der Salicylsäure und A = Acetyl; statt" Acetylirte Spirsäure, kurzweg "Aspirin". [H, Dreser, "Pharmakologisches über Aspirin (Acetylsalicylsäure)," in "Archiv für die Gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere," 1899, p.307]
The custom of giving commercial names to medicinal products began in Germany in the late 19th century, when nascent pharmaceutical firms were discovering medical uses for common, easily made chemicals. To discourage competitors they would market the substance under a short trademarked name a doctor could remember, rather than the long chemical compound word. German law required prescriptions to be filled exactly as written.
aster (n.): flower genus, 1706, from Latin aster "star" (see star (n.)); so called for the radiate heads of the flowers. Originally used in English in the Latin sense (c. 1600) but this is obsolete.
bloom (n.1): "blossom of a plant," c. 1200, a northern word, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse blomi "flower, blossom," also collectively "flowers and foliage on trees;" from Proto-Germanic *blomon (cognates: Old Saxon blomo, Middle Dutch bloeme, Dutch bloem, Old High German bluomo, German Blume, Gothic bloma), from PIE *bhle- (cognates: Old Irish blath "blossom, flower," Latin flos "flower," florere "to blossom, flourish"), extended form of root *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom" (see folio). Related to Old English blowan "to flower" (see blow (v.2)).

Transferred sense, of persons, is from c. 1300; meaning "state of greatest loveliness" is from early 14c.; that of "blush on the cheeks" is from 1752. Old English had cognate bloma, but only in the figurative sense of "state of greatest beauty;" the main word in Old English for "flower" was blostm (see blossom).
broom (n.): Old English brom "broom, brushwood," the common flowering shrub whose twigs were tied together to make a tool for sweeping, from Proto-Germanic *bræmaz "thorny bush" (cognates: Dutch braam, German Brombeere "blackberry"), from PIE root *bh(e)rem- "to project, a point."

Traditionally, both the flowers and sweeping with broom twigs were considered unlucky in May (Suffolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, etc.). The witch's flying broomstick originally was one among many such objects (pitchfork, trough, bowl), but the broomstick became fixed as the popular tool of supernatural flight via engravings from a famous Lancashire witch trial of 1612.
canister (n.): late 15c., "basket," from Latin canistrum "wicker basket" for bread, fruit, flowers, etc., from Greek kanystron "basket made from reed," from kanna (see cane (n.)). It came to mean "metal receptacle" (1711) through influence of can (n.). As short for canister shot, it is attested from 1801, so called for its casing.
carnation (n.): "Dianthus Caryophyllus," commonly also called "pink," herbaceous perennial flowering plant native to southern Europe and abundant in Normandy, 1530s, of uncertain origin. The early forms are confused; perhaps (on evidence of early spellings) it is a corruption of coronation, from the flower's being used in chaplets or from the toothed crown-like look of the petals.

Or it might be called for its pinkness and derive from Middle French carnation "person's color or complexion" (15c.), which probably is from Italian dialectal carnagione "flesh color," from Late Latin carnationem (nominative carnatio) "fleshiness," from Latin caro "flesh" (see carnage). This carnation had been borrowed separately into English as "color of human flesh" (1530s) and as an adjective meaning "flesh-colored" (1560s; the earliest use of the word in English was to mean "the incarnation of Christ," mid-14c.). OED points out that not all the flowers are this color.
centaury (n.): small plant with red flowers (now usually erythraea Centaureum), late 14c., from Medieval Latin centaurea, from Latin centaureum, from Greek kentaureion, from kentauros "centaur" (see centaur), so called according to Pliny because the plant's medicinal properties were discovered by Chiron the centaur.

German Tausendgüldenkraut is based on a mistranslation of the Latin word, as if from centum + aurum (the similarity might be the result of Roman folk etymology).
Cloris: fem. proper name, from Chloris, Latin form of Greek Khloris, goddess of flowers (later identified with Roman Flora), literally "greenness, freshness," poetic fem. of khloros "greenish-yellow, fresh," related to khloe "young green shoot" (see Chloe).
clove (n.1): dried flowerbud of a certain tropical tree, used as a spice, late 15c., earlier clowes (14c.), from Anglo-French clowes de gilofre (c. 1200), Old French clou de girofle "nail of gillyflower," so called from its shape, from Latin clavus "a nail" (see slot (n.2)). For second element, see gillyflower. The two cloves were much confused in Middle English. The clove pink is so called from the scent of the flowers.
deadwood (n.): 1887 in figurative sense of "useless person or thing," originally American English, from dead (adj.) + wood (n.). Dead wood in a forest is useful as firewood; perhaps the reference here is to the dried up parts of plants grown for commercial production of flowers or fruit.
decal (n.): by 1909, shortening of decalcomania, from French décalcomanie, from décalquer (18c.) "transferring of a tracing from specially prepared paper to glass, porcelain, etc." (in vogue in France 1840s, England 1862-64), from de- "off" + calquer "to press," from Italian calcare, from Latin calcare "to tread on, press."
Time was when there were only printers employed in making the sheets that were stuck on the ware, giving the old-time term of "plain print." This form of decoration was succeeded a few years ago by the decalcomania or "decal." This "decal" is an imported sheet, lithographed, and the little sprigs, flowers and scenes are cut out and stuck on the ware. ["Brick, the Leading Clay Journal," April 1909]
defloration (n.): late 14c., "culling of the finest passages from books," from Old French desfloracion (14c.), from Latin deflorationem "plucking of flowers," also "taking of (a woman's) virginity," noun of action from past participle stem of deflorare (see deflower). Compare also anthology. Also used in Middle English with reference to virginity from c. 1400.
deflower (v.): late 14c., "deprive (a maiden) of her virginity," also "excerpt the best parts of (a book)," from Old French desflorer (13c., Modern French déflorer) "to deflower (a garden); to take the virginity of," from Late Latin deflorare, from de- (see de-) + flos "flower" (see flora). Notion is "to strip of flowers," hence "to ravish," which is the oldest sense in English.
The French Indians are said not to have deflowered any of our young women they captivated. [James Adair, "The Life of an Indian Trader," London, 1775]
Easter (n.): Old English Easterdæg, from Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre), from Proto-Germanic *austron-, "dawn," also the name of a goddess of fertility and spring, perhaps originally of sunrise, whose feast was celebrated at the spring equinox, from *aust- "east, toward the sunrise" (compare east), from PIE *aus- (1) "to shine" (especially of the dawn); see aurora.

Bede says Anglo-Saxon Christians adopted her name and many of the celebratory practices for their Mass of Christ's resurrection. Almost all neighboring languages use a variant of Latin Pascha to name this holiday (see paschal). Easter egg attested by 1825, earlier pace egg (1610s). Easter bunny attested by 1904 in children's lessons; Easter rabbit is by 1888; the paganish customs of Easter seem to have grown popular c. 1900; before that they were limited to German immigrants.
If the children have no garden, they make nests in the wood-shed, barn, or house. They gather colored flowers for the rabbit to eat, that it may lay colored eggs. If there be a garden, the eggs are hidden singly in the green grass, box-wood, or elsewhere. On Easter Sunday morning they whistle for the rabbit, and the children imagine that they see him jump the fence. After church, on Easter Sunday morning, they hunt the eggs, and in the afternoon the boys go out in the meadows and crack eggs or play with them like marbles. Or sometimes children are invited to a neighbor's to hunt eggs. [Phebe Earle Gibbons, "Pennsylvania Dutch," Philadelphia 1882]
ell (n.1): unit of measure, Old English eln, originally "forearm, length of the arm" (as a measure, anywhere from a foot and a half to two feet), from PIE *el- (1) "elbow, forearm" (cognates: Greek olene "elbow," Latin ulna, Armenian uln "shoulder," Sanskrit anih "part of the leg above the knee," Lithuanian alkune "elbow").

The exact distance varied, in part depending on whose arm was used as the base and whether it was measured from the shoulder to the fingertip or the wrist: the Scottish ell was 37.2 inches, the Flemish 27 inches. Latin ulna also was a unit of linear measure, and compare cubit. The modern English unit of 45 inches seems to have been set in Tudor times.
Whereas shee tooke an inche of liberty before, tooke an ell afterwardes [Humfrey Gifford, "A Posie of Gilloflowers," 1580].
ephemera (n.): late 14c., originally a medical term, from Medieval Latin ephemera (febris) "(fever) lasting a day," from fem. of ephemerus, from Greek ephemeros "daily, for the day," also "lasting or living only one day, short-lived," from epi "on" (see epi-) + hemerai, dative of hemera "day," from PIE *amer- "day." Sense extended 17c. to short-lived insects (Modern Latin ephemera musca) and flowers; general sense of "thing of transitory existence" is first attested 1751. Compare Greek ephemeroi "men," literally "creatures of a day."
faint (v.): c. 1300, "grow weak, become enfeebled," also "lack courage or spirit, be faint-hearted," and "to pretend, feign;" from faint (adj.). Sense of "swoon, lose consciousness" is from c. 1400. Also used in Middle English of the fading of colors, flowers, etc. Related: Fainted; fainting. For Chaucer and Shakespeare, also a transitive verb ("It faints me").
fascicle (n.): "a bunch, bundle, small collection," 1620s, from Latin fasciculus "a small bundle, a bunch (of flowers); small collection (of letters, books, etc.)," diminutive of fascis (see fasces). As "part of a work published in installments," 1640s (also fascicule, from French). Related: Fasciculate; fasciculation; fascicular; fascicularly; fasciculated.
festoon (n.): "string or chain of flowers, ribbon, or other material suspended between two points," 1620s, from French feston (16c.), from Italian festone, literally "a festive ornament," apparently from festa "celebration, feast," from Vulgar Latin *festa (see feast (n.)). The verb is attested from 1789. Related: Festooned.
flora (n.): c. 1500, "Roman goddess of flowers;" 1777, "the plant life of a region or epoch," from Latin Flora, "goddess of flowers," from flos (accusative florem, genitive floris) "flower," from *flo-s-, Italic suffixed form of PIE *bhle- "to blossom, flourish" (cognates: Middle Irish blath, Welsh blawd "blossom, flower," Old English blowan "to flower, bloom"), extended form of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom," which is possibly identical with or derived from *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole).

Her festival, the Floralia, was April 28 to May 2 and featured "comic theatrical representations" and "excessive drinking" [Century Dictionary]. The French Revolutionary calendar had a month Floréal (April 20-May 20). Used as the title of systematically descriptive plant catalogues since 1640s, but popularized by Linnaeus in his landmark 1745 study of Swedish plants, "Flora Suecica."
floral (adj.): 1640s, "pertaining to Flora," from French floral (16c.), from Latin floralis "pertaining to Flora; of flowers" (see flora). Meaning "pertaining to flowers" in English is from 1753. Related: Florally.
floricide (n.): "one who destroys flowers," 1842, from Latin floris, genitive of flos "flower" (see flora) + -cide.
[S]urely there is cruelty and gross selfishness in cutting down for our own fleeting gratification that which would have ministered to the enjoyments of all for weeks or months. Frankly do I confess that I dislike a wanton floricide. He has robbed the world of a pleasure; he has blotted out a word from God's earth-written poetry. ["New Monthly Magazine" 1847]
florid (adj.): 1640s, "strikingly beautiful," from French floride "flourishing," from Latin floridus "flowery, in bloom," from flos "flower" (see flora). Sense of "ruddy" is first recorded 1640s. Meaning "highly decorated, profusely adorned (as with flowers)" is from 1650s. Related: Floridly.
florist (n.): "one who cultivates flowers," especially "one who raises flowers for sale," 1620s, formed on analogy of French fleuriste, from Latin floris, genitive of flos "flower" (see flora) + -ist. Related: Floristry.
flourishing (adj.): late 14c., "prospering, thriving;" c. 1400, "full of flowers," present participle adjective from flourish (v.). Related: Flourishingly.
flower (v.): c. 1200, "be vigorous, prosper, thrive," from flower (n.). Of a plant or bud, "to blossom," c. 1300. Meaning "adorn or cover with flowers" is from 1570s. Related: Flowered; flowering.
fuchsia (n.): red color (like that of the Fuchsia flowers), 1921, from the ornamental shrub (1703, Plumier; by 1753 in English), from the Latinized name of German botanist Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566) + abstract noun ending -ia. The German surname is literally "fox." Not related to Latin fucus "seaweed, sea wrack, tangle" (see fucus) which also gave its name to a red color prepared from it.
garland (n.): c. 1300 (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), "wreath of flowers," also "crown of gold or silver," from Old French garlande "garland," probably from a Frankish frequentative form of *weron "adorn, bedeck," from *wiara-, *weara- "wire" (on the notion of "ornament of refined gold," properly "of twisted gold wire"), from Proto-Germanic *wira-, *wera-, suffixed form of PIE *wei- (1) "to turn, twist" (see wire (n.)). Compare Middle High German wieren "adorn, bedeck." The word is found in many forms in the Romanic language, such as Old Spanish guarlanda, French guirlande, Italian ghirlanda, Portuguese guirnalda.
gather (v.): Old English gadrian, gædrian "unite, agree, assemble; gather, collect, store up" (transitive and intransitive), used of flowers, thoughts, persons; from Proto-Germanic *gaduron "come or bring together, unite" (cognates: Old English gæd "fellowship, companionship," gædeling "companion;" Middle Low German gadderen; Old Frisian gaderia; Dutch gaderen "to gather," gade "spouse;" German Gatte "husband;" Gothic gadiliggs), from PIE *ghedh- "to unite, join" (see good (adj.)). Change of spelling from -d- to -th- is 1500s, reflecting earlier change in pronunciation (as in mother, weather, father). Related: Gathered; gathering.
grain (n.): early 14c., "a small, hard seed," especially of one of the cereal plants, also as a collective singular, "seed of wheat and allied grasses used as food;" also "something resembling grain; a hard particle of other substances" (salt, sand, later gunpowder, etc.), from Old French grain, grein (12c.) "seed, grain; particle, drop; berry; grain as a unit of weight," from Latin granum "seed, a grain, small kernel," from PIE root *gre-no- "grain" (see corn (n.1)). From late 14c. as "a species of cereal plant." In the U.S., where corn has a specialized sense, it is the general word (used of wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc.).

Figuratively, "the smallest possible quantity," from late 14c. From early 15c. in English as the smallest unit of weight (originally the weight of a plump, dry grain of wheat or barley from the middle of the ear). From late 14c as "roughness of surface; a roughness as of grains." In reference to wood, "quality due to the character or arrangement of its fibers," 1560s; hence, against the grain (1650), a metaphor from carpentry: cutting across the fibers of the wood is more difficult than cutting along them.

Earliest sense of the word in English was "scarlet dye made from insects" (early 13c.), a sense also in the Old French collateral form graine; see kermes for the evolution of this sense, which was frequent in Middle English; also compare engrain. In Middle English grain also could mean "seed of flowers; pip of an apple, grape, etc.; a berry, legume, nut." Grain alcohol attested by 1854.
heliotrope (n.): "plant which turns its flowers and leaves to the sun," 1620s, from French héliotrope (14c.) and directly from Latin heliotropium, from Greek heliotropion, from helios "sun" (see sol) + tropos "turn" (see trope). The word was applied c. 1000-1600 in Latin form to sunflowers and marigolds. Related: Heliotropic.
homogamy (n.): 1805, "condition of bearing flowers that do not differ sexually," from homo- (1) "same" + -gamy.
-ia: word-forming element in names of countries, diseases, flowers, from Latin and Greek -ia, which forms abstract nouns of feminine gender. In paraphernalia, Mammalia, etc. it represents the Latin and Greek plural suffix of nouns in -ium or -ion.

Chinese forms country names by adding guo "country" to the stressed syllable of the place name, hence Meiguo "America," from mei, the stressed syllable of America (minus -r-, which does not exist in Chinese). Similarly Yingguo "England," Faguo "France." Continent names are similarly formed, with zhou "continent" (such as Meizhou "America (continent)," Feizhou "Africa," Ouzhou "Europe").
lilac (n.): 1620s, from French lilac "shrub of genus Syringa with mauve flowers," from Spanish lilac, from Arabic lilak, from Persian lilak, variant of nilak "bluish," from nil "indigo" (compare Sanskrit nilah "dark blue"), of uncertain origin. As a color name, attested from 1791; as a scent, from 1895. As an adjective, "pale pinkish-purple," from 1801. Related: Lilaceous.