Wiktionary

crocus

See also: Crocus

English

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Crocus sativus

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Learned borrowing from Latin crocus, from Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “crocus”), from an ancient Semitic language.

Noun

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crocus (plural crocuses or croci or crocus or crocusses)

  1. A perennial flowering plant (of the genus Crocus in the Iridaceae family). Saffron is obtained from the stamens of Crocus sativus.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 128:
      Nothing is more short-lived than the erection; like the crocus of spring, it is there for a moment, and then it is gone; one moment the penis is small, soft, and insignificant, and then in the next it is hard, rigid, and three and four times its previous size.
  2. Any of various similar flowering plants, such as the autumn crocus and prairie crocus.
  3. (inorganic chemistry, obsolete) A deep yellow powder, the oxide of some metal (especially iron), calcined to a red or deep yellow colour.
  4. (obsolete, slang) A fraudulent doctor; a quack.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From croker?”)

Noun

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crocus (uncountable)

  1. (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago) Burlap.
    a crocus bag

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin crocus, from Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “crocus”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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crocus m (invariable)

  1. crocus

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin crocus, from Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “crocus”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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crocus m (plural crocus)

  1. crocus (plant)

Further reading

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Latin

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crocus (crocus plant)

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos, “crocus”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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crocus m (genitive crocī); second declension

  1. crocus, saffron

Usage notes

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Most often, the masculine crocus was used to refer to the plant, while the neuter crocum was used for saffron gathered from the plant. However, this distinction is not universally observed, and the word crocus may refer either to the crocus plant or to saffron taken from the plant.

Declension

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Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative crocus crocī
genitive crocī crocōrum
dative crocō crocīs
accusative crocum crocōs
ablative crocō crocīs
vocative croce crocī

Descendants

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References

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  • crocus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • “crocus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “crocus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
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