Flower Meaning
/ˈflaʊ̯.ə/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used for sexual reproduction.
nounA reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens and/or a pistil.
Sentence Examples
There is a flower shop near by.
I see a flower on the desk.
The plant has a beautiful bright red flower.
CEFR Practice Quiz
My favorite spring ____ is a bright red tulip, known for its beautiful petals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A beautiful yellow ____ bloomed in the garden, attracting several busy honeybees and bright butterflies.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”). Doublet of fleur, flor, flour, bloom, and blossom. Partly displaced native Old English blostma (which is cognate), whence Modern English blossom.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"O Laurinella! little doſt thou wot / How fraile a flower thou doſt ſo highly prize: / Beauty's the flower, but love the flower-pot / That muſt preſerve it, els it quickly dyes."
— 1653, William Basse, “Clio, or The First Muse; in 9 Eglogues in Honor of 9 Vertues. As It was in His Dayes Intended. [Munday. Laurinella. Eglogue. Of True and Chast Love.]”, in J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, The Pastorals and Other Workes of William Basse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts, Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n.], published 1870, →OCLC:
"The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows."
— 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Long-Expected Party”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC:
"You know, Darwin studied their fertilisation, and showed that the whole structure of an ordinary orchid flower was contrived in order that moths might carry the pollen from plant to plant."
— 1894, H. G. Wells, The Flowering of the Strange Orchid:
"[F]or ſtill, that my virgin-flower was yet uncrop'd never once enter'd into his head, and he would have thought it idling with time and words to have queſtion'd me upon it."
— 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 106:
"So was it asserted, that whenever a maiden was destined to die unmarried, as surely would the plant wither away and perish, and if a dughter of the Renseccos lost her honour or had given away her flower to an unworthy lover, then would the flower be blighted overnight."
— 1893, Emily Gerard, The Voice of a Flower, page 44:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
My favorite spring ____ is a bright red tulip, known for its beautiful petals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A beautiful yellow ____ bloomed in the garden, attracting several busy honeybees and bright butterflies.