Meanings
plural safflowers
- countableuncountableA cultivated thistle-like plant, Carthamus tinctorius, family Asteraceae, now grown mainly for its oil.
Safflower is unusual: if you add alkalis to the dye broth it is yellow; with acids it goes a beautiful crimson pink which is the colour of the original ‘red’ tape once tied around legal documents in England […].
2002, Victoria Finlay, Colour, page 195Synonyms: bastard saffron
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA cultivated thistle-like plant, Carthamus tinctorius, family Asteraceae, now grown mainly for its oil.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthistlelike Eurasian plant widely grown for its red or orange flower heads and seeds that yield a valuable oil
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Arabicأَصْفَر“yellow”
- Middle Frenchsafleur
- Englishsafflower
From Middle French safleur; originally from Arabic أَصْفَر (ʔaṣfar, “yellow”) but influenced by safran (“saffron”) and fleur (“flower”).
More words from Middle French, Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek κνῆκος
- κνῆκος (knêkos)plant
Arabic مُرِّيق, مُرَّيْق
- مُرِّيق (murrīq)plant
- مُرَّيْق (murrayq)plant
- مِرِّيق (mirrīq)plant
- عُصْفُر (ʕuṣfur)plant
Bengali কুসুম
- কুসুম (kuśum)plant
Bulgarian шафранка
- шафранка (šafranka)plant
Catalan safranó
- safranóplant
Chinese Cantonese 紅花 /红花
- 紅花 /红花plant
Chinese Mandarin 紅花 /红花
- 紅花 /红花 (hónghuā)plant
Czech světlice
- světliceplant
Dutch saffloer
- saffloerplant
Finnish saflori, värisaflori
- safloriplant
- värisafloriplant
French carthame des teinturiers
- carthame des teinturiersplant
German Färberdistel
- Färberdistelplant
Hindi कुसुम
- कुसुम (kusum)plant
Indonesian kesumba
- kesumbaplant
Italian cartamo, zafferanone
- cartamoplant
- zafferanoneplant
Japanese 紅花
- 紅花 (benihana)plant
Korean 잇꽃
- 잇꽃 (itkkot)plant
Latin cnecos
- cnecosplant
Malay kesumba
- kesumbaplant
Persian کاجیره, کافیشه
- کاجیره (kâjire)plant
- کافیشه (kâfiše)plant
Polish krokosz
- krokoszplant
Portuguese açafroa
- açafroaplant
Punjabi ਕਸੁੰਭ
- ਕਸੁੰਭ (kasumbh)plant
Romanian șofrănaș, șofrănel
- șofrănașplant
- șofrănelplant
Russian сафло́р
- сафло́р (saflór)plant
Spanish alazor
- alazorplant
Swedish safflor, färgtistel
- safflorplant
- färgtistelplant
Tagalog kasubha, biri
- kasubhaplant
- biriplant
Tamil செந்துருக்கம்
- செந்துருக்கம் (centurukkam)plant
Thai คำฝอย
- คำฝอยplant
Turkish aspur, yalancı safran
- aspurplant
- yalancı safranplant
- papağan yemiplant
Vietnamese hồng hoa, rum
- hồng hoaplant
- rumplant
Welsh safflwr
- safflwrplant
Cite this entry
safflower. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/safflower
“safflower.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/safflower. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “safflower,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/safflower.
Source: safflower on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.