Fuchs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of plant belonging to the genus Fuchsia, known for its vibrant and ornamental flowers
2. Referring to a shade of pinkish-purple often associated with the fuchs flower, popular in gardening
3. An informal term used in some contexts to denote an enthusiast or lover of fuchsia plants and their cultivation

Etymology: In English, this shrub name comes straight from German, where "Fuchs" is the ordinary word for "fox." The name was borrowed as a botanical term, so the plant carries a German animal name rather than an English one. The name is a doublet of "fox" and "vos." All three descend from the same Germanic root, and they reached English by different routes: "fox" is the native English form, while "vos" is the Dutch and Low German version. The shrub name followed the German path instead, so a plant term and an animal name ended up sharing one ancestor but taking separate forms in English.