petal

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin petalum (“petal”),^[2][3][4][5] used for the part of a flower by Fabio Colonna before 1650,^[2] or in 1649 according to Barnhart.^[3] In Late Latin the same word meant a metal plate.^[6][7][8] It comes from Ancient Greek πέταλον (pétalon, “leaf; leaf of metal, thin plate”),^[2][4][3] the noun use of the neuter of πέταλος (pétalos, “outspread, broad, flat”),^[4][3][6][8] from the stem of πεταννύναι (petannúnai, “to spread out”).^[2][3] Etymonline gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *pete- (“to spread”),^[4] also the base of fathom,^[2][3] and Dictionary.com and Partridge compare Latin pateō (“to stand open”), the source of patent.^[6][9] Compare French pétale (1718) and Italian petalo (1747).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the coloured segments of a flower's corolla: 1712, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[2][10] Etymonline and Barnhart date the English word 1726, with the Latin form petala used in an English context in 1704.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) explains it as "a term in botany" for the fine coloured leaves of a flower.^[11] Word Origins notes that the Greek sense "leaf" suits a petal, since it is technically a modified leaf.^[12] Figurative use is recorded from 1837, in Bulwer-Lytton,^[2] and zoologists applied the word in 1878 to the expanded part of the ambulacrum of a sea urchin.^[2][7] A verb, to provide or scatter with petals, follows in 1907.^[2] Since 1974, originally and chiefly in Britain, petal has also been a term of affection.^[2]

Timeline

• 1704 – petala, used in an English context.^[3][4]
• 1712 – one of the segments of a flower's corolla.^[2][10] Etymonline and Barnhart date it 1726.^[4][3]
• 1837 – figurative use.^[2]
• 1878 – in zoology, part of a sea urchin's ambulacrum.^[2]
• 1907 – verb, to provide or scatter with petals.^[2]
• 1974 – an affectionate form of address.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. One of the separate, usually coloured parts of the corolla of a flower: A single petal fell from the tulip.^[13][10][2]
2. (chiefly British) A familiar or affectionate form of address: Never mind, petal.^[2]
3. (zoology) The expanded part of a petal-like ambulacrum in a sea urchin.^[10][2][7]

Verb

1. To cover or scatter with petals.^[10][2]
2. To put forth petals.^[10]

Word family

• petaled
• petallike
• petalage
• petalless
• apetalous
• bipetalous
• choripetalous
• petaline
• petaloid

Related words

• fathom
• patent
• patulous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins