orchid English · revision 810
10 Oct 2026, 23:43 by bogdan “New entry from the dictionary sources (AHD, Barnhart, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary, Hoad, MED, Word Origins)” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈɔː.kɪd/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɔɹ.kɪd/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|la-new|Orchideae]], Linnaeus's name for the plant family,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from ''orchid-'', wrongly taken to be the stem of [[la|orchis]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) [[der|grc|ὄρχις|tr=órkhis|t=testicle; orchid]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) The plant was so called from the shape of the paired tubers in many species.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) The Greek word goes back to the standard Indo-European word for “testicle”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Any plant of the orchid family (1845), a word introduced by the botanist John Lindley.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The Latin form ''orchis'' had been used in English since the 1560s,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) and in Middle English the plant was called ''ballockwort''.^(Etymonline)^(Hendrickson 2008) The ''-d-'' of ''orchid'' came from a mistaken attempt to extract the Latin stem.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) From 1923 the word also names a light purple colour.^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1300 – ''ballockwort''.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1560s – ''orchis''.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1845 – ''orchid'', coined by Lindley.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)
+ * 1923 – a purplish colour.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # Any plant of the large family Orchidaceae, terrestrial or [[epiphyte|alt=epiphytic]], with often showy three-petalled flowers whose middle petal is enlarged into a lip.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # The flower of such a plant, especially one grown for ornament.^(AHD)^(RHWU)
+ # A light bluish-red to purple colour.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Of a light purple colour.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[orchidlike]]
+ * [[orchidaceous]]
+ * [[orchidectomy]]
+ * [[orchidology]]
+ * [[moth orchid]]
+ * [[pansy orchid]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[orchis]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}