fleur

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See also: Fleur

English

Noun

fleur (plural fleurs)

fleur-de-lis

Related terms

pot-et-fleur

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

fleur

Etymology

Inherited from Old French flur, flour, flor, from Latin flōrem (“flower; the finest part of something”), from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-s (“flower, blossom”), from *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”). In some senses, from Middle French fleur (“surface, upper side, top layer”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *flōraz (“floor”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /flœʁ/
Audio (Western France) (file)
Rhymes: -œʁ

Noun

An example of Epilobium (alterntatively, Chamaenerion) flowers (fleurs d’épilobes)

fleur f (plural fleurs)

(botany) flower; bloom; blossom; collectively, the reproductive organs and the envelope which surrounds them in angiosperms (also called "flowering plants")
Je suis allé cueillir une fleur dans les champs.
I went to pick a flower in the fields.

Il m’a offert de magnifiques fleurs.
He offered me magnificent flowers.
(metonymically) flowering plant; angiosperm; the plant with flowers itself
Les orchidées sont des fleurs recherchées.
Orchids are sought-after flowers.
(figuratively) a kind favor given by one person to another
Il m’a fait une fleur.
He gave me a kind favor.
(figuratively) the best of something
Voici la fine fleur de la jeunesse française.
Here's the cream of the crop of French youth.

Mourir à la fleur de l’âge.
to die in the prime of life
(figurative) the virginity of a woman
- (Can we date this quote?), Jean de la Fontaine, Fables
  Il est bon de garder sa fleur ; mais pour l’avoir perdue il ne se faut pas pendre.
  It is good to guard one's blossom, but for having lost it one should not hang oneself.
(archaic, chemistry) Substances with a state of purity or extreme separation, produced by sublimation
Fleurs de soufre, de zinc, d’arsenic, d’antimoine.
refinements of sulfur, zinc, arsenic, antimony

Synonyms

(flowering plant): angiosperme
(kind favor): aide, faveur, service
(best of something): crème de la crème, élite, gratin, meilleur, nec plus ultra
(virginity): vertu, virginité

Hypernyms

(flower, bloom, blossom): arbre, inflorescence, capitule, ombelle, plante

Hyponyms

(flower, bloom, blossom): bractée, carpelle, étamine, fleuron, pédoncule, pétale, pistil, sépale, tépale

Meronyms

(flower, bloom, blossom): androcée, calice, corolle, gynécée, involucre, périgone, périanthe, réceptacle floral

Derived terms

Descendants

Haitian Creole: flè

See also

Further reading

“fleur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowing from late Old French fleur.

Noun

fleur (plural fleurs)

Alternative form of flour

Walloon

Etymology

From Old French flor, flur, from Latin flōs, flōrem, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“flower, blossom”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fløːʀ/

Noun

fleur f (plural fleurs)

(botany) flower

Wikious

Boobota

Sagapedia