Word Study
nepenthes
CIDE DICTIONARY
nepenthes, n. [NL., fr. Gr. . See Nepenthe.].
- Same as Nepenthe. Milton. [1913 Webster]
- A genus of climbing plants found in tropical areas of India, Malaya, Australia, etc., which have the leaves prolonged into a kind of stout tendril terminating in a pitcherlike appendage, whence the plants are often called
pitcher plants andmonkey-cups . There are about thirty species, of which the best known isNepenthes distillatoria . See Pitcher plant. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
nepenthes, n.
1 poet. a drug causing forgetfulness of grief.
2 any pitcher-plant of the genus Nepenthes.
1 poet. a drug causing forgetfulness of grief.
2 any pitcher-plant of the genus Nepenthes.
Etymology
L f. Gk nepenthes (pharmakon drug), neut. of nepenthes f. ne- not + penthos grief
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