gentian
gen·tian
noun
any of various plants of the family Gentianaceae especially the genera Gentiana and Gentianella and Gentianopsis
Origin
Via Middle English from Latin gentiāna, which, according to Pliny the Elder, was named after Gentius (Ancient Greek Γένθιος (Génthios)), the last king of Illyria, who supposedly discovered the plant's medicinal benefits. This has been dismissed as folk etymology but the word may still ultimately be of Illyrian origin, as -an is a common suffix in Illyrian words.
Phrases
- Alpine gentian
- American gentian
- Appalachian gentian
- autumn gentian
- bastard gentian
- Bavarian gentian
- bigleaf gentian
- bladder gentian
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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.