Everyday LifeGreek → English
Margaret
/ˈmɑːrɡrɪt/noun
A woman's given name, still worn in forms from Margot to Rita.
The Greek roots
μαργαρίτης
margarítēs
pearl
Literally: “pearl”
Follow a root:μαργαρίτης2 words
The story of the word
The Greek word for pearl is itself an import, reaching Greek from the east and probably going back through Iranian to a Sanskrit word, so the name arrived in English at the end of a very long chain that began outside Greece. The saint's cult scattered it into every European language, which then cut it hard: Meg, Margot, Greta, Rita, Peggy, Daisy — Daisy because the French marguerite is the ox-eye daisy. Margarine belongs to the family too, named in 1869 for the pearly sheen of the fat.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
margarinemargueritemargarite
In a sentence
Margaret signed her letters M and expected you to know.
Two of my grandmother's four sisters were called Margaret.