Etymology

basilicon

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Today it means: Any of various ointments believed to have “sovereign” virtues. Full definition →

Ancient Greek βασιλικόν
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromβασιλικόν
  2. English todaybasilicon

From the Ancient Greek βασιλικόν (basilikón) (also in the form basilicum, via the Latin basilicum), the neuter form of βασιλικός (basilikós, “royal”) (basilicus in Latin), understood as in the phrase βασιλικόν φάρμακον (basilikón phármakon, “royal drug”). Doublet of basil and basilicum.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekβασιλικόν all →

basil

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.