Floscule

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tiny individual flower, especially one of the small florets that make up a composite flower head
2. A minute blossom, such as one of the small flowers gathered together in a dense cluster
3. Any small flower or floret, particularly one forming part of a larger compound inflorescence

Etymology: "Floscule" is a small flower, or more loosely a floret or flowerlet, and its name is a miniature of the ordinary word for blossom. It comes from Latin "flosculus," a diminutive of "flos," meaning "flower" or "blossom." English took it from the same Latin diminutive that French later turned into its own "floscule," so the two languages share the word through that common source. The pattern is simple: Latin speakers added the diminutive ending "-culus" to "flos" to mean "little flower." That small suffix did the whole job, shrinking the flower into a tiny version of itself, and English writers borrowed the result whole rather than building anything new from parts.

Synonyms: floret, floweret