crocus en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin crocus, from Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “crocus”), from an ancient Semitic language.
Meanings
-
A perennial flowering plant (of the genus Crocus in the Iridaceae family). Saffron is obtained from the stamens of Crocus sativus.
Other foreign terms have become so thoroughly Anglicised as to adopt English plurals, and it is sometimes difficult to decide whether the English or the original foreign form is the more correct. None but a pedant would speak of ‘the chori of an opera,’ ‘the croci in a garden,’ or ‘the dogmata of the church;’ […]
[a. 1881, William B[allantyne] Hodgson, “Noun”, in Errors in the Use of English, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1881, part II (Accidence), page 70:Nothing is more short-lived than the erection; like the crocus of spring, it is there for a moment, and then it is gone; one moment the penis is small, soft, and insignificant, and then in the next it is hard, rigid, and three and four times its previous size.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 128:
- Any of various similar flowering plants, such as autumn crocus and prairie crocus.
- (obsolete) A deep yellow powder, the oxide of some metal (especially iron), calcined to a red or deep yellow colour.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| crocusses | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| crocus | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| croci | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| crocuses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
crocuslike · prairie crocus · crocus of Venus · saffron crocus · crocin · crocus of Mars · autumn crocus · crocused · sand crocus
Translations (44)
he כַּרְכֹּם (plant of genus Crocus) · sl žafran (plant of genus Crocus) · la crocus (plant of genus Crocus) · fr crocus (plant of genus Crocus) · de Krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · nl krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · ca crocus (plant of genus Crocus) · el κρόκος (plant of genus Crocus) · io krokuso (plant of genus Crocus) · fi sahrami (plant of genus Crocus) · ru кро́кус (plant of genus Crocus) · da krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · fi krookus (plant of genus Crocus) · ru шафра́н (plant of genus Crocus) · ja クロッカス (plant of genus Crocus) · tr çiğdem (plant of genus Crocus) · ga cróch (plant of genus Crocus) · kmr pîvok (plant of genus Crocus) · cs šafrán (plant of genus Crocus) · fa کروکوس (plant of genus Crocus) · hy քրքմածաղիկ (plant of genus Crocus) · grc κρόκος (plant of genus Crocus) · mk качунка (plant of genus Crocus) · sl krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · sv krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · vo krok (plant of genus Crocus) · nb krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · bg минзухар (plant of genus Crocus) · cs krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · pl szafran (plant of genus Crocus) · is krókus (plant of genus Crocus) · pl krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · gl azafrán (plant of genus Crocus) · sw karkomu (plant of genus Crocus) · it croco (plant of genus Crocus) · bg шафран (plant of genus Crocus) · pt croco (plant of genus Crocus) · es croco (plant of genus Crocus) · lt krokas (plant of genus Crocus) · ro brândușă (plant of genus Crocus) · gl sasafrán (plant of genus Crocus) · ka ქურქუმა (plant of genus Crocus) · nn krokus (plant of genus Crocus) · eo krokuso (plant of genus Crocus)