flos

Latin

flōrēs lūteī (yellow flowers)

Etymology

A root noun interpreted as an s-stem noun, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-s (“flower, blossom”), from *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”). Cognates include Ancient Greek φύλλον (phúllon), Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌼𐌰 (blōma) and Old English blōstm, blæd (“leaf”) (English blossom, blade).

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /floːs/, [fɫ̪oːs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /flos/, [flɔs]
Audio (Classical) (file)

Noun

flōs m (genitive flōris); third declension

flower, blossom
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.253-254:
  ferte deae flōrēs: gaudet flōrentibus herbīs haec dea
  Bring flowers for the goddess; this goddess takes pleasure in flowering plants.
(figuratively) the best kind or part of something
(figuratively) the prime; best state of things
(figuratively) an ornament or embellishment

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	flōs	flōrēs
Genitive	flōris	flōrum
Dative	flōrī	flōribus
Accusative	flōrem	flōrēs
Ablative	flōre	flōribus
Vocative	flōs	flōrēs

Derived terms

flōreō
flōreus
flōridus
*flōriculus (Vulgar Latin)
flōsculus

Related terms

Flōra
flōrālia
flōrēns
flōrenter
flōrentes
flōrescō
flōreus
flōricomus
flōridē
flōridulus
flōrifer
flōrigenus
flōriger
flōritiō
flōrōsus
flōrulentus
flosculē
flosculus

Descendants

Balkan Romance:
- Aromanian: floari, floarã
- Megleno-Romanian: floari
- Romanian: floare
Ibero-Romance:
- Aragonese: flor
- Asturian: flor
- Extremaduran: frol
- Mirandese: frol, flor
- Old Portuguese: flor
  - Galician: flor
  - Portuguese: flor
- Old Portuguese: *chor
  - Galician: chor
  - Portuguese: chor
- Old Spanish: flor
  - Ladino: flor
  - Spanish: flor
    - → English: flor
Gallo-Italic:
- Ligurian: sciô
- Lombard: fiuur, fiùu
- Piedmontese: fior
- Romagnol: fjór
- Venetian: fior
Gallo-Romance:
- Old French: flor, fleur, flour, flur
  - French: fleur
    - Haitian Creole: flè
  - Insular Celtic:
    - → Cornish: flour, flowr
    - → Irish: plúr
    - → Scottish Gaelic: flùr
  - → Middle English: flour, fflour, fflowr, fleur, flor, floure, flower, flowr, flowre, flowyr, flur
    - English: flower, flour
    - Scots: flouer, flour, floor
    - → Middle Welsh: fflwr
      - Welsh: fflŵr
  - Norman: flieur (Jersey), flleur (Guernsey)
  - → Old Norse: flúr
  - Walloon: fleur
- Old Occitan: flor
  - Catalan: flor
  - Occitan: flor, flour, hlor
Italo-Dalmatian:
- Corsican: fiore
- Dalmatian: fiaur
- Istriot: fiuri
- Italian: fiore
- Neapolitan: ciore, scióre
- Sicilian: ciuri
Rhaeto-Romance:
- Friulian: flôr
- Romansch: flur
Sardinian: frore, fiòre, flore
Borrowings:
- → Esperanto: floro
  - → Ido: floro
- → Interlingua: flor
- → Swedish: flor
- → Volapük: flor

References

“flos”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“flos”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
flos in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
flos in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
- the prime of youthful vigour: flos aetatis
- the perfume exhaled by flowers: odores, qui efflantur e floribus
- (ambiguous) flowers of rhetoric; embellishments of style: lumina, flores dicendi (De Or. 3. 25. 96)
- (ambiguous) a glorious expanse of flowers: laetissimi flores (Verr. 4. 48. 107)

Swedish

Alternative forms

floss
flous
flouse

Etymology

From Arabic فلوس‎ (fulūs, “money”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fluːs/

Noun

flos ?

(slang) money

References

Slangopedia