Etymology

alfalfa

A1L1F4A1L1F4A1

Today it means: A plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop. Full definition →

Spanish alfalfa ← Old Spanish alfalfez ← Arabic الْفَصْفَصَة
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

alfalfa · noun1

  1. Arabic · derived fromالْفَصْفَصَة“alfalfa, lucerne”
  2. Old Spanish · derived fromalfalfez
  3. Spanish · borrowed fromalfalfa
  4. English todayalfalfa

PIE word *h₁éḱwos Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *HéHḱus Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos Proto-Indo-Iranian *Háćwas Proto-Iranian *Hácwah Proto-Iranian *Hástiš Proto-Iranian *HacwaHastiš Old Median *aspāstišder. Arabic فَصْفَص (faṣfaṣ)bor. Old Spanish alfalfez Spanish alfalfabor. English alfalfa From Spanish alfalfa, from Old Spanish alfalfez, from Arabic الْفَصْفَصَة (al-faṣfaṣa, “alfalfa, lucerne”).

Alfalfa · proper noun2

From alfalfa, from Spanish, from Arabic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.