A poppy is a flowering plant with bright, delicate petals, often red, pink, or orange, and a dark center. Some poppies produce seeds used in food and substances used to make medicines like morphine.
From Old English *popig*, probably from Latin *papaver* “poppy,” influenced by other Germanic and Romance forms. The exact path is unclear, but the word has long been tied to the same plant.
In many countries, red poppies are worn to remember soldiers killed in war, all because the flowers grew on battlefields in World War I. A simple field plant ended up carrying huge emotional and political meaning.
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