Etymology

sweetshrub

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Today it means: A deciduous flowering plant of the genus Calycanthus with aromatic bark and flowers. Full definition →

English shrub ← Middle English swete ← Old English swēte
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sweh₂d-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*swéh₂dus
  3. Proto-Germanic*swōtuz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*swōtī
  5. Old Englishswēte
  6. Middle Englishswete
  7. Englishsweet
  8. Englishshrub
  9. English todaysweetshrub

From sweet + shrub, named for the pleasant aroma of the entire plant.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.