Etymology

trefoil

T1R1E1F4O1I1L1

Today it means: Any of several plants of the pea family, having compound, trifoliate leaves; especially one of the genus Trifolium. Full definition →

Middle English trefoil ← Old French trifoil ← Latin trifolium
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromtrifolium
  2. Old French · derived fromtrifoil
  3. Middle English · inherited fromtrefoil
  4. English todaytrefoil

From Middle English trefoil, from Old French trifoil, trefeul, from Latin trifolium, from tri- (“three”) + folium (“leaf”).

Words from the same roots

Latintrifolium all →

trifoliumtrifoly

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.