Link Centre Dictionary

pimpernel

pim·per·nel

UK/ˈpɪmpənɛl/ rare archaic us

noun

1.

European garden herb with purple-tinged flowers and leaves that are sometimes used for salads

Synonyms
2.

any of several plants of the genus Anagallis

Origin

From Anglo-Norman pimpernele et al., Middle French pimpinelle (“burnet saxifrage”) et al., from Medieval Latin pimpinella, pipinella, most likely from piper (“pepper”) because its fruit resembled peppercorns, although variants may suggest other derivations, bipinnella the bipennis (“two-winged”).

Phrases

  • bastard pimpernel
  • false pimpernel
  • scarlet pimpernel
  • water pimpernel

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.