Rose

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ɹəʊz/

Definitions

1. A type of flowering plant known for its fragrant and colorful blooms ; the past tense of to move upward or increase in position
2. A common garden plant that produces beautiful flowers often used symbolically ; an action in the past of ascending or getting up from a lower place
3. A plant species characterized by thorny stems and fragrant blossoms ; an event in the past where something elevated or grew higher

Etymology: The flower's name has travelled a long way, and the route runs through Persia before reaching Rome. Ancient Greek "rhodon" meant rose, and it probably came from an Old Persian word for flower that the Greeks borrowed, possibly by way of an intermediary language in southern Italy. Its distant ancestor may connect to a Proto-Indo-European word for sweetbriar, a wild rose, and the same root gave the word for bramble in Latin and an Old English word for thornbush. Some scholars link the root to a verb meaning "to grow", though that remains uncertain. English took the word through Latin "rosa" and inherited a form from Old English "rōse". Its vowel was later reshaped under the influence of Old French "rose", which is why the English word sounds as it does today. The verb sense of the word, and the pinkish colour "rosé", arrived from French, the latter meaning pinkish, and the English colour word was borrowed from it.

Synonyms: flower, blossom, bloom, bud, petal

Antonyms: wilt, fade, withers