polygonum
noun
Forms polygonums polygona
- noun (botany) Any of many plants, of the family Polygonaceae, embracing a large number of species, including bistort, knotweed, smartweed, etc.
Synonyms
Etymology
From translingual Polygonum, from Ancient Greek πολύγονον (polúgonon, “knotweed”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γόνυ (gónu, “knee”), so called in allusion to the numerous joints, or neuter of πολύγονος (polúgonos, “prolific”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γόνος (gónos, “offspring”). If the former of those two hypotheses is true, then the word would be related to polygon (from γωνία (gōnía, “corner, angle”), a derivative of γόνυ (gónu)).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “polygonum”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details