Pimpernel definition
Any of various plants of the genus Anagallis, having opposite leaves and flowers with a five-lobed calyx, especially the scarlet pimpernel.
noun
Any of a genus (Anagallis) of plants of the primrose family, esp. the scarlet pimpernel (A. arvensis), with red, white, or blue, starlike flowers which close in bad weather.
noun
(now rare) A plant of the genus Pimpinella, especially burnet saxifrage, Pimpinella saxifraga. [from 16th c.]
noun
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Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
pimpernel
Plural:
pimpernelsOrigin of pimpernel
- Middle English pimpernelle from Old French alteration of piprenelle from Late Latin pimpinella perhaps from Latin piper pepper pepper
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Anglo-Norman pimpernele et al., Middle French pimpinelle (“burnet saxifrage") et al., from Late Latin pipinella, most likely from Vulgar Latin *piperinus (“pepper-like"), because its fruit resembled peppercorns, from Latin piper. It has also been linked to Latin bipinnella, from bipennis (“two-winged").
From Wiktionary