Geraniums

/dʒəˈreɪniəmz/ noun

Definition

Colorful flowering plants with rounded leaves and clusters of bright red, pink, or white flowers, popular in gardens and on windowsills.

Etymology

From Greek 'geranos' meaning crane, because the plant's seed pod resembles a crane's bill. The name traveled through Latin and French into English by the 1600s.

Kelly Says

The crane connection is real—if you look at a geranium seed pod, it genuinely looks like a long-beaked crane head, and this 2,000-year-old observation is why we still call them geraniums.

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