Botany
/ˈbɒt.ə.ni/noun
The scientific study of plants.
Did you know?Botany comes from Greek *botanē*, meaning “fodder” or “grazing,” so the word’s earliest sense was tied to plants as food, not romance or magic.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʷʰed-
“to graze, eat”
Ancient Greek
Greek
βοτάνη (botanē)
“pasture, fodder, herb”
Late Latin
Latin
botanica
“things pertaining to herbs or plants”
Middle French
French
botanique
“botanical; relating to plants”
17th Century
English
botany
“the study of plants”