conifer

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnifer (“cone-bearing”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably under the influence of French conifère,^[7] formed from cōnus (“cone”) and -fer (“bearing”).^[2][4] The first part comes from Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone, spinning top, pine cone”),^[4][3] and the suffix from ferō (“to bear, carry”),^[3][8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *bher- (“to carry”).^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged instead derives the noun from the botanical name New Latin Coniferae.^[9] Dictionary.com alone gives it as conefere and dates it to 1350–1400.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cone-bearing plant: about 1841 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[9] 1847 in Etymonline,^[3] and 1851 in the OED and Barnhart, the OED's first quotation being from G. A. Mantell's Petrifactions.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective coniferous is far older than the noun: it dates from 1664, in John Evelyn's Sylva, and was formed in English from the Latin adjective.^[7][6] The OED defines it by the order Coniferae,^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Shorter Oxford by the order Coniferales,^[9][5] and Collins by the phylum Coniferophyta.^[8]

Timeline

• 1664 – the adjective coniferous, in Evelyn.^[7]
• c. 1841 – noun, a cone-bearing plant.^[9] Etymonline dates it to 1847, and the OED and Barnhart to 1851.^[3][2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gymnosperm tree or shrub, typically bearing cones and evergreen needle-like leaves, such as a pine, fir, spruce, larch, cedar or yew.^[8][5][9][2]

Word family

• coniferous
• coniferin

Related words

• cone
• -fer

Usage notes

The OED notes that the scientific plural Coniferae is often used instead of the popular conifers.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House