Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Anthocyanin
/ˌænθəˈsaɪənɪn/noun
The water-soluble plant pigment that turns fruit, flowers and autumn leaves red, purple or blue.
The Greek roots
ἄνθος
ánthos
flower, bloom
κύανος
kýanos
dark blue
Literally: “flower blue”
The story of the word
Ludwig Marquart coined Anthokyan in 1835 for the blue of the cornflower. The molecule is its own litmus paper: it reads red in acid and blue in alkali, which is why the water from boiled red cabbage runs through the whole spectrum as you add vinegar and then soda. Hydrangeas work the other way round for a different reason: they turn blue in sour soil because acidity frees aluminium for the roots to take up, and the metal binds to the pigment. κύανος in Homer is a dark blue enamel inlaid on armour, nothing to do with plants.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → German coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
cyanidecyananthologychrysanthemum
In a sentence
The anthocyanins only show once the chlorophyll breaks down in October.