Blanketflower is a compound of blanket (from Old French blanchet 'white woolen cloth', from blanc 'white') + flower, the name alluding to the blanket-like spread of its vivid colors. The historical trail runs through blanchet in Old French and flor in Old French. Morphologically, blanketflower is transparent: it is a compound of blanket (from Old French blanchet 'white woolen cloth', from blanc 'white') + flower, the name alluding to the blanket-like spread of its vivid colors. Used as a noun, blanketflower now means "a North American daisy-like wildflower of the genus Gaillardia with vivid red-yellow blooms", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as blanket and flower. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.