acanthus

From Latin acanthus, from Ancient Greek ἄκανθος (ákanthos), from ἀκή (akḗ, “thorn”) + ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”).[1][2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈkæn.θəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈkæn.θəs/
• Rhymes: -ænθəs

acanthus (plural acanthuses or acanthi)

1. A member of the genus Acanthus of herbaceous prickly plants with toothed leaves, (family Acanthaceae, order Scrophulariales) found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India.[First attested in the mid 16th century.][2]
2. (architecture) An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of Acanthus spinosus, used in the capitals of the Corinthian and composite orders.[First attested in the mid 18th century.][2]

• (a member of Acanthus): bear's breech, bear's breeches, bear's-breech (rare)

• acantha
• Acanthis

• acanthus in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

From Ancient Greek ἄκανθος (ákanthos), from ἀκή (akḗ, “thorn”) + ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈkan.tʰus/, [aˈkan.tʰʊs]

acanthus m (genitive acanthī); second declension

1. A plant known as bear's-foot (Helleborus foetidus).
2. A thorny evergreen tree.

Second declension.

• acanthus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acanthus in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
• acanthus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• acanthus in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• acanthus in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly