pyrethrum

See also: Pyrethrum

English
Tanacetum cinerariifolium
Tanacetum cinerariifolium

Etymology

Old English pyretre, from (and later reformed after) Latin pyrethrum (in Pliny), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πύρεθρον (púrethron).

Pronunciation
  • (US) IPA(key): /paɪˈɹiθɹəm/

Noun

pyrethrum (countable and uncountable, plural pyrethrums)

  1. Any of several daisy-like perennial African plants of the genus Tanacetum, especially Tanacetum cinerariifolium. [from 10th c.]
    • 1986, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind, Heinemann, published 2005, page 10:
      We children would re-tell the stories the following day to other children who worked in the fields picking the pyrethrum flowers, tea-leaves or coffee beans of our European and African landlords.
  2. Anacyclus pyrethrum (pellitory of Spain)
  3. (organic chemistry) Any of several insecticides obtained from these plants; pyrethrin.

Translations

References
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