Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Phalaenopsis
/ˌfæləˈnɒpsɪs/noun
The moth orchid, a tropical genus whose flat white or pink flowers sit in a row along an arching stem.
The Greek roots
φάλαινα
phálaina
moth
ὄψις
ópsis
appearance, sight
Literally: “moth-looking”
The story of the word
Carl Blume named the genus in 1825 after glimpsing the flowers across a clearing in Java and taking them for a swarm of moths at rest. φάλαινα is the Greek for moth and, awkwardly, also for whale, which is why Latin balaena means whale while Linnaeus used Phalaena for a genus of moths. The ὄψις on the end is the same piece that sits in optic and autopsy.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
opticautopsysynopsisdendrobium
In a sentence
A supermarket phalaenopsis will flower again if you stop watering it so much.
The phalaenopsis put out a second spike in February.