Viniferas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A botanical term referring to species of the grapevine genus known for producing wine grapes; describing plants cultivated primarily for their fruit used in winemaking; identifying members of the Vitaceae family known for their vine-like growth and economic importance
2. Denoting types of grapevine plants that bear fruit suitable for fermentation into wine; referring to cultivated vines valued in viticulture and enology; indicating species within a group prized for their distinctive, tendril-bearing climbing habit
3. Pertaining to grape-bearing vines grown extensively for wine production; classifying certain woody climbing plants that yield edible grapes; labeling varieties within a genus integral to vineyards and the wine industry

Etymology: "Viniferas" is simply the plural of "vinifera", so its story is the story of that base form. "Vinifera" is a Latinized compound built from "vinum", meaning wine, and "-fera", from "ferre", to bear or carry. The combined sense is "wine-bearing" or "grape-bearing," which is why the name was attached to the grape vine itself, Vitis vinifera, the species that produces the wine grapes grown in vineyards worldwide. The plural form appears when writers refer to several such vines or to multiple varieties grouped under the name. Because the word was built from classical Latin elements rather than inherited from an older English word, it reads as a technical coinage: a scientific label that gives a plant a descriptive name in Latin.

Synonyms: grapevine