orchis
/ˈɔɹ.kɪs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.79 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An orchid; now specifically, a plant of the genus Orchis.
noun
A testis.
Example Sentences
- "[T]heir maid has dreſſed their hats with cowſlips, orchiſſes, cuckoo-flowers, and golden-cups—[…]"
- "In spring, what a place it was for wild flowers!―as Lucy Raymond and her brothers well knew, having often brought home thence great bunches of dielytras and convallarias and orchises; and at any time some bright blossoms were generally to be found gleaming through the shade."
- "He had a suit of summer mufti, and a broad-brimmed blue beaver hat looped with leaves broken from the hedgerows in the lanes, and a Leander scarf tucked full of flowers: loosestrife, meadowrue, orchis, ragged-robin."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁órǵʰis Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis)bor. Latin orchisbor. English orchis Borrowed from Latin orchis, from Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis, “testicle”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ὄρχις
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɔɹ.kɪs/
- British English: /ˈɔː.kɪs/