echinacea

[ ek-uh-ney-shuh, -see-uh ]

noun
  1. any of several coneflowers of the genus Echinacea whose leaves, roots, and other parts are used in herbal medicine to promote wound healing and enhance the immune system.

Origin of echinacea

1
First recorded in 1825–30; from New Latin Echīnācea, genus name, from Latin echīnus “sea urchin,” from Greek echînos “hedgehog, sea urchin, a kind of plant” + -acea

Words Nearby echinacea

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How to use echinacea in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for echinacea

echinacea

/ (ˌɛkɪˈneɪʃɪə) /


noun
  1. Also called: purple coneflower either of the two N American plants of the genus Echinacea, having flower heads with purple rays and black centres: family Compositae (composites): See coneflower

  2. the powdered root of either of these plants, used to stimulate the immune system

Origin of echinacea

1
from New Latin, from Latin echīnātus prickly, from echīnus hedgehog

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012