Purslain

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A low-growing succulent plant with fleshy, mildly sour leaves that is often eaten as a salad green or cooked vegetable
2. A trailing weedy herb with thick, juicy leaves and small yellow flowers, widely gathered and eaten in many cuisines
3. An edible succulent plant of the genus Portulaca whose tender stems and fleshy leaves are used in salads and stews

Etymology: "Purslain" is an archaic spelling of "purslane", the name of a fleshy, low-growing succulent that is eaten as a vegetable and salad green. The plant's name has an odd detour through another word entirely. Its Latin ancestor, "porcilaca", was a close relative of "portulaca", the scientific name still used for the genus, but in Old French the name was reshaped to look like "porcelaine", the word for porcelain. Nothing about the plant links it to fine china; the resemblance was purely in sound, and that accidental pull toward a familiar word is what gave English its final form. The Old French form "porcelaine" passed into English as "purslane", and this older spelling, "purslain", shows the same word before the modern ending settled into place. Because the reshaping happened in French, the English word carries the mark of that second-hand alteration rather than the straight line from the Latin plant name.

Synonyms: purslane