Arabidopsis
/ˌær.ə.bɪˈdɒp.sɪs/noun
A genus of small flowering plants in the mustard family, widely used in plant genetics and molecular biology.
Did you know?Arabidopsis was coined from Greek roots by botanists, and the suffix -opsis means “appearance” or “resemblance,” so the name is about how the plant looks, not where it’s from.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
árabis
“a kind of cress or mustard plant”
Ancient Greek
Greek
-opsis
“appearance, aspect, resemblance”
1900s
Latinized scientific
Arabidopsis
“a genus name formed to mean a plant resembling Arabis”
Modern English
English
Arabidopsis
“a genus of small flowering plants used as a model organism in genetics”
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