Etymology

safflower

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Today it means: A cultivated thistle-like plant, Carthamus tinctorius, family Asteraceae, now grown mainly for its oil. Full definition →

Middle French safleur ← Arabic أَصْفَر
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The story

  1. Arabic · derived fromأَصْفَر“yellow”
  2. Middle French · borrowed fromsafleur
  3. English todaysafflower

From Middle French safleur; originally from Arabic أَصْفَر (ʔaṣfar, “yellow”) but influenced by safran (“saffron”) and fleur (“flower”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.