flos

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).

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

• Audio (Classical)

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flōs m (genitive flōris); third declension

1. flower, blossom
2. (figuratively) the best kind or part of something
3. (figuratively) the prime; best state of things
4. (figuratively) an ornament or embellishment

Third declension.

• flōreō
• flōreus
• *flōriculus (Vulgar Latin)
• flōsculus

• 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, 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)