Translingual

Acanthus mollis 'Oak Leaf' - Missouri Botanical Garden

Proper noun

Acanthus m

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Acanthaceae – prickly herbs that grow in the Mediterranean; the acanthuses.

Hypernyms

• (genus): Plantae - kingdom; angiosperms, eudicots, core eudicots, asterids, euasterids I - clades; Lamiales - order; Acanthaceae - family; Acanthoideae - subfamily; Acantheae - tribe

Hyponyms

• (genus): Acanthus balcanicus, Acanthus dioscoridis, Acanthus ebracteatus, Acanthus eminens, Acanthus hirsutus, Acanthus ilicifolius, Acanthus mollis, Acanthus montanus, Acanthus polystachyus, Acanthus spinosus, Acanthus syriacus - selected species

References

1. ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5)
2. ↑ Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7)

English

Noun

acanthus ‎(plural acanthuses or acanthi)

1. A member of the genus Acanthus of herbaceous prickly plants with toothed leaves, (family Acanthaceae, order Scrophulariales) found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India.[First attested in the mid 16th century.]^[2]
2. (architecture) An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of Acanthus spinosus used in the capitals of the Corinthian and composite orders.[First attested in the mid 18th century.]^[2]

Synonyms

• (a member of Acanthus): bear's breech, bear's breeches, bear's-breech (rare)

Translations

See also

• acantha

References

1. ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5)
2. 1 2 3 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7)

• acanthus in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄκανθος ‎(ákanthos), from ἀκή ‎(akḗ, “thorn”) + ἄνθος ‎(ánthos, “flower”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈkan.tʰus/, [aˈkan.tʰʊs]

Noun

acanthus m ‎(genitive acanthī); second declension

1. A plant known as bear's-foot (Helleborus foetidus).
2. A thorny evergreen tree.

Inflection

Second declension.

Descendants

References

• acanthus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acanthus in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia
• acanthus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acanthus in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• acanthus in William Smith., editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly