peony
/ˈpiːəni/ noun
Forms peonies paeony pioney piony
Synonyms
Etymology
From Old English peonie, peonia et al., from Latin paeōnia; later reinforced by Anglo-Norman peonie, Old French peone, pyoine (French pivoine), from Latin paeōnia, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek παιωνία (paiōnía), from Ancient Greek Παιών (Paiṓn, “Paeon, the physician of the gods”)/παιών (paiṓn, “a physician”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A plant, and its flower, of the ranunculaceous genus Pæonia. Of the four or five species, one is a shrub; the rest are perennial herbs with showy flowers, often double in cultivation. [Written also pæony, and piony.]
Etymology [OE. pione, pioine, pioni, OF. pione, F. pivoine, L. paeonia, Gr. Pæan.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “peony”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details