Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Hibiscus
/hɪˈbɪskəs/noun
A tropical shrub with large trumpet-shaped flowers, some species dried for tea.
The Greek roots
ἰβίσκος
ibískos
marsh mallow
Literally: “marsh mallow”
Follow a root:ἰβίσκος1 word
The story of the word
Dioscorides used ἰβίσκος for the marsh mallow, a European plant, and Latin took it as hibiscum. The Greek word itself looks borrowed, possibly from Gaulish, so the chain may run through Greek rather than start there. Linnaeus applied the old name to a genus of showy tropical flowers, which is why the tea in a Cairo café and a herb in a Greek marsh share a name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
In a sentence
A hibiscus by the terrace opens a new flower most mornings and drops it by dusk.