Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Clematis
/ˈklɛmətɪs/noun
A climbing garden plant with showy flowers and woody trailing stems.
The Greek roots
κλῆμα
klêma
vine shoot, twig
Literally: “little vine shoot”
Follow a root:κλῆμα1 word
The story of the word
κληματίς was a loose Greek label for anything with long trailing shoots, a diminutive of κλῆμα, the vine branch. Dioscorides used it for periwinkle among other plants, and botanists later narrowed it to the genus gardeners now train up walls. Behind κλῆμα is κλάω, to break off, which is exactly what a vine shoot is: a piece snapped from the stock.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
iconoclastclastic
In a sentence
The clematis has finally reached the top of the fence and started sideways.