Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Acanthus
/əˈkænθəs/noun
A spiny-leaved Mediterranean plant, and the leaf ornament carved on Corinthian capitals.
The Greek roots
ἄκανθα
ákantha
thorn, spine
Literally: “thorn plant”
Follow a root:ἄκανθα2 words
The story of the word
ἄκανθα meant any thorn, and the same root for sharpness gives acid, acute and acrid, along with the spiny red blood cell called an acanthocyte in medicine. Vitruvius tells a story about the architectural version: a basket left on a girl's grave, an acanthus growing up around it, and a passing sculptor named Callimachus copying what he saw. The tale is probably invented, but the leaf has been on columns for two and a half thousand years regardless.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
acuteacidacrobatoxygen
In a sentence
Acanthus had taken over the shaded corner of the garden and defended it with thorns.