antho-

Antho- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “flower.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in botany.

Antho- comes from the Greek ánthos, meaning “flower.”

What are variants of antho-?

When combined with words or word elements that begin with a vowel, antho- becomes the rare variant anth-.

You have likely heard of the word anthology. An anthology is “a book or other collection of selected writings by various authors, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same subject.”

But what does an anthology have to do with flowers? Anthology comes from a Greek word that literally means “flower-gathering” but was used metaphorically to refer to a “collection of poems.” Flowers and poems? How lovely!

The Greek source of anthology features the equivalent of antho- in Greek, meaning “flower.” The -logy portion of the anthology is related to the combining form -logy (“body of knowledge”), but in the original Greek, it has the specific sense of “gathering, collection.”

What are some words that use the combining form antho-?

• anthocarpous
• anthocyanin
• anthophilous
• anthophobia
• anthophore (using the equivalent form of antho- in Greek)
• anthotaxy

What are some other forms that antho- may be commonly confused with?

• anthropo-
• anthraco-
• ant-
• ante-
• arthro-

While antho- looks very similar to anthem, anthem comes from a completely different word in Greek. Discover the origins of the word anthem at our entry for the word.

You may be familiar with the combining form -phobia, which means “fear.” With this in mind, what is anthophobia?