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phlox

(flŏks)

n. pl. phlox or phlox·es

Any of various North American plants of the genus Phlox, having opposite leaves and flowers with a variously colored salverform corolla.

[New Latin Phlox, genus name, coined by Carolus Linnaeus, from Latin phlox, a kind of plant bearing showy, odorless flowers, from Greek, flame, wallflower (wallflowers being so called because of their flamelike color); see bhel-¹ in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

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phlox

garden phlox

Phlox paniculata

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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