Bloom

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /bluːm/

Definitions

1. A flower or the act of flowering, or a period of greatest beauty, health, or vigor
2. The process by which a plant produces flowers, a time marked by flourishing development, or the peak of vitality and beauty in life
3. The phase in which a plant develops blossoms, a time of thriving growth and beauty, or a moment of flourishing health and vigor

Etymology: The verb "bloom" comes from the same root as the noun for a flower, and that root is far older than English. Its Proto-Germanic ancestor *blōmô meant "flower," and it survives across the Germanic languages: German "Blume," Dutch "bloem," Swedish "blomma." English took the Middle English "blome" from Old Norse "blóm," and the word once referred to blossoms, the flowers themselves, before the verb grew out of that noun. The surprise is that English has two unrelated-looking words that are in fact doublets. The noun meaning "spongy mass of metal," as in a bloom of iron ready for forging, descends from Old English "blōma," meaning "lump of metal." The two words split apart centuries ago and kept their separate senses, even though both trace back to the same Proto-Germanic root. Beyond English, the same root reaches into Celtic and Romance territory. Irish "bláth" and Welsh "blodyn" both mean "flower," and Latin "flōs" belongs to the same family, which is why "flower" and "bloom" are close cousins in meaning as well as in descent.

Synonyms: flower, blossom, flourish, thrive, sprout

Antonyms: wilt, fade, withering, die, decline