Windowbox

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A decorative vessel secured to the outer edge of a window for the purpose of growing flowers or plants while enhancing the building's exterior
2. A planter mounted outside a window that provides a space for growing plants or flowers, while also adding aesthetic appeal to the structure's facade
3. A container fixed to the exterior of a window designed to hold soil and plants, enhancing both the greenery and the visual charm of the building

Etymology: A window box is, quite literally, a box fitted to a window, and the compound is about as transparent as English gets. "Window" comes from Old Norse "vindauga," meaning "wind-eye," a name for an opening that let air and light into a building, and "box" traces back to Latin "buxus" (boxwood), whose wood was used for small containers. Put together, the two parts describe a container hung or set on a window ledge, the kind that once held herbs or kitchen plants and now more often holds trailing geraniums or petunias. The spelling is the only real variable. Dictionaries record both "window box" as two words and "windowbox" as one, and the one-word form is simply a closed-up variant of the same compound. Neither spelling changes the meaning, which has stayed fixed on a planter for the outside of a window since the compound took shape.

Synonyms: planter, box planter, flower box, window planter