carnation

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun Eurasian plant with pink to purple-red spice-scented usually double flowers; widely cultivated in many varieties and many colors
  2. noun a pink or reddish-pink color
  3. adjective pink or pinkish

Etymology

From Middle French carnation (“flesh color, complexion”), either via Italian carnagione (“flesh color”) or directly from Late Latin carnātiō (“fleshiness”), from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”) + ātiō (“-ation”). As a flower and its color, possibly instead from corruption in French of coronation (“crowning, crowned thing”) under the influence of carnation, from the flower's supposed resemblance to a crown. By surface analysis, Latin carn- + -ate + -ion.

In classic literature

Synonyms

clove pink, gillyflower, Dianthus caryophyllus

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