Lilium

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A flowering plant belonging to the lily family, known for its large, prominent blooms that often come in a variety of colors
2. A genus of perennial plants characterized by their attractive flowers and sword-shaped leaves, commonly found in temperate regions
3. A member of the group of flowering plants distinguished by their bulbous roots and commonly cultivated for ornamental purposes

Etymology: Before it named a genus of plants, "lilium" was the Latin word for the lily flower. The Romans took it from Greek, where the flower was "leirion," and the Latin form kept that sense for centuries before botanists adopted it as the name for the whole group. The same Latin word also produced a name for something quite different. English borrowed "lilium" from Latin for a trap whose arrangement of parts looked like a lily, so the flower's shape was transferred to a mechanical device rather than to a plant.

Synonyms: lily