efflorescence
Meaningflowering out
Common meaning: powdery crystalline deposit on a surface
- efoutSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 186 · scan
- flora flower, blossomLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 761 · scan
- escencenoun ending: the process of becoming
‘out’ + ‘a flower, blossom’ → efflorescence
Journey through time
- ef — Latin ex- “out” (path traced)
- flor — Latin flōs, flōris “a flower, blossom” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as efflorescentia.
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
- US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
Origin: Built on Latin efflorescentia, which Skeat analyses as ex- ‘out’ + florere ‘a flower, blossom’.
Roots
- efflorescentia Latin “flowering out”
- flōs, flōris Latin “a flower, blossom”
Related words
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