orchis

American  

[awr-kis] / ˈɔr kɪs /

noun

1. any orchid.

2. any of various terrestrial orchids, especially of the genus Orchis, of temperate regions, having spikelike flowers.

3. fringed orchis.

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orchis British  

/ ˈɔːkɪs /

noun

1. any terrestrial orchid of the N temperate genus Orchis, having fleshy tubers and spikes of typically pink flowers

2. any of various temperate or tropical orchids of the genus Habenaria, such as the fringed orchis

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Etymology

Origin of orchis

1555–65; < Latin < Greek órchis testicle, plant with roots like testicles

Example Sentences

The same can be said of salep, a fine powder ground from dried orchis tubers used in the Middle East to thicken ice cream.

From Newsweek

The number of seeds in a capsule was reckoned, and thence it was found that the progeny of a single plant of the common orchis would suffice to cover the globe in the fourth generation.

From Life of Charles Darwin by Bettany, G. T. (George Thomas)

At dawn July came o'er the hills— O light of eye and deep heart-thrills, As she beheld the glowing orchis Whose splendor now all the meadow fills!

From Song-waves by Rand, Theodore H. (Theodore Harding)

She gathered purple colt's-foot and orchis, yellow iris and goats' honeysuckle.

From A Tatter of Scarlet Adventurous Episodes of the Commune in the Midi 1871 by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

It was, he showed me, the root of a species of orchis that was employed in making the philters.

From My Schools and Schoolmasters or The Story of my Education. by Miller, Hugh