Dictionary

orchis en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɔː.kɪs/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɔɹ.kɪs/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁órǵʰis Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis)bor. Latin orchisbor. English orchis Borrowed from Latin orchis, from Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis, “testicle”).

Meanings

1. An orchid; now specifically, a plant of the genus Orchis.
   • [T]heir maid has dreſſed their hats with cowſlips, orchiſſes, cuckoo-flowers, and golden-cups—[…] 1792, Charlotte Smith, “Letter XIV. To Miss Waverly.”, in Desmond. […], volume II, London: […] G[eorge,] G[eorge,] J[ohn] and J[ames] Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 195:
   • In spring, what a place it was for wild flowers!―as Lucy Raymond and her brothers well knew, having often brought home thence great bunches of dielytras and convallarias and orchises; and at any time some bright blossoms were generally to be found gleaming through the shade. 1871, Agnes Maule Machar, Lucy Raymond Or, The Children's Watchword, page 25:
   • He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin. 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 91
2. A testis.

Forms

Deriveds

parorchis · musk orchis · showy orchis · spotted orchis · early spring orchis · finger orchis · diorchic

Relateds

orchid

Translations (5)

lt gegužraibė (orchis) · hu orchidea (orchis) · nl orchis (orchis) · vo rogid (orchis) · hu kosbor (orchis)