Pentapetalous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A flower or bloom that is structured with exactly five distinct petals arranged around the center
2. Describing a bloom characterized by the presence of five separate petals, as distinct from those with more or fewer petals
3. Having five petals as a characteristic feature of the flower's structure and appearance

Etymology: "Pentapetalous" is a botanical adjective describing a flower with five petals, and it is built in the most transparent way possible: the Greek prefix "penta-", meaning five, joined to "petalous", which itself comes from "petal" with the suffix "-ous" meaning "having" or "full of". Put together, the word simply means "having five petals," the kind of plain descriptive coinage that botanists favoured when naming flower shapes. The real interest lies in the parts rather than any hidden story. "Petal" comes from the Greek "petalon," meaning a leaf or thin plate, and English took the term into botanical use. The Greek prefix "penta-" appears across many scientific words, such as "pentagon" and "pentathlon," which is why the component is easy to recognise once you know it.

Synonyms: five-petaled