flower

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The colourful part of a plant that produces seeds, often with a pleasant smell.

   She picked a yellow flower from the garden.

2. 2
   noun

   A plant that is grown for its flowers, especially a small one.

   We transplanted the flowers into a larger pot.

3. 3
   noun

   The best or finest part of a group or time of life.

   She was cut down in the flower of her youth.

From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”). Doublet of fleur, flor, flour, bloom, and blossom. Partly displaced native Old English blostma (which is cognate), whence Modern English blossom.

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