Word of the Day
: June 14, 2013millefleur
playWhat It Means
: having an allover pattern of small flowers and plants
millefleur in Context
The museum's collection includes several medieval tapestries with millefleur designs.
"While millefleurs tapestries rarely fail to be decorative, the later ones of the period 1500 to 1520 are rather flimsy and lack the boldness of design of the 1460s." - From an article by Jamie Mulherron in Apollo Magazine, March 1, 2011
Did You Know?
"Millefleur" (which can also be spelled "millefleurs," as in our second example sentence) came directly from French into English in the 18th century as a word for a perfume distilled from several different kinds of flowers. The literal meaning of "mille fleur" is "a thousand flowers," so it is easy to see how "millefleur" came to be applied to patterns or backgrounds of many tiny flowers or plants. A similarly colorful extension of "a thousand flowers" can be seen in the word "millefiori." That term, which refers to ornamental glass characterized by multicolored flower-like designs, comes from "mille fiori," the Italian phrase meaning "a thousand flowers."
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Memory
What is the meaning of "sui generis," our Word of the Day from May 13? The answer is …
More Words of the Day
-
Apr 20
gingerly
-
Apr 19
underwhelm
-
Apr 18
qua
-
Apr 17
circumlocution
-
Apr 16
inalienable
-
Apr 15
purloin
