Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Cedar
/ˈsiːdər/noun
A large evergreen conifer with fragrant, rot-resistant timber.
The Greek roots
κέδρος
kédros
cedar, juniper
Literally: “cedar tree”
Follow a root:κέδρος1 word
The story of the word
Κέδρος covered both cedar and juniper in Greek, so ancient references are hard to pin to one species. The oil was used in Egyptian embalming, and Greek writers use κεδρόω to mean preserve in cedar oil. Cedar of Lebanon timber built Solomon's temple and Phoenician ships, and the tree still stands on the Lebanese flag.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- Old English
In a sentence
The chest is lined with cedar, which is why nothing in it has been eaten by moths.