cranesbill
/ˈkɹeɪnz.bɪl/ noun
Forms cranesbills
- noun Any flowering plant of the genus Geranium found throughout the temperate zone.
- noun A pair of long-beaked forceps.
Synonyms
Etymology
First attested in the 1500s. Calque of Dutch craenhals; cognate with German Kranichhals and Middle Low German kraneshals, all likely derived from Latin geranium, from Ancient Greek γέρᾰνος (gérănos, “crane”).
By surface analysis, crane + -s- + bill. The flowering plant is so called because of the lengthened appendage of the seed vessel.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “cranesbill”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details