Verdants

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Areas or regions covered with lush green vegetation ; people who are inexperienced or new to a particular field or activity as symbolized by their freshness and growth ; things characterized by abundant plant life or a vibrant green appearance
2. Places abundant in healthy green plants and foliage ; individuals showing a beginner's freshness and lack of experience ; objects or scenes marked by flourishing greenery and vitality
3. Land rich with thriving green growth and plant life ; novices or newcomers to a discipline denoted by their youthful and undeveloped status ; environments or items typified by vivid green colors and natural lushness

Etymology: "Verdants" is the plural of "verdant," which is a plural noun or adjective form, so its history runs through the adjective. "Verdant" entered English in the 1500s (the OED's earliest uses are from around the early 1600s, with the 16th-century "verdant" in poetic use) from Latin "viridis," meaning "green," which is also the source of "verd" in Old French and of "verdure," a word for green vegetation that arrived in English through Old French. The Latin root is closely related to the Latin verb "virere," "to be green or flourishing," which explains why the adjective carries a sense of freshness and growth rather than just colour. The plural noun use, meaning inexperienced newcomers, is a later and more figurative extension. It draws on the same image of something young and freshly sprouting, so a "verdant" novice is described as tender and new, much as a plant is. Most of the plural's history is therefore the adjective's history reshaped into a metaphor for people.

Synonyms: greens, vegetation, foliage, plant life, greenery

Antonyms: barrens, wastelands, deserts, barren lands, wilderness