noun
Etymology
Origin of florist
Explanation
A florist is someone whose job involves arranging and selling cut flowers. If you can't decide what flowers to buy your mom for Mother's Day, you can ask a florist for advice. It's most common to call the owner or manager of a flower shop a florist, although the word is also used to mean a person who grows flowers meant for cutting. Whether you're buying flowers for a sick friend or planning the bouquets for a wedding, a florist is the person you should consult. Florist comes from the French fleuriste, from the Latin root word flos, or "flower."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hustled from the scene by a neighboring florist, she meets the vigilant but eccentric Neighborhood Watch group at the home of reclusive former detective Augusta Dupin.
From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026
My mom worked a number of service jobs over the course of her life, whether it was as a baker or a florist at a grocery store or working at a customer call center.
From Salon • Apr. 27, 2026
“People are scared to open their mouths,” said Reba Campbell, 64, who works in a florist in sleepy downtown Oakdale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
"I've never seen anything like it," Ingrid, a florist in the city of Perpignan, told AFP.
From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026
Melanie suggested that the procession needed palm branches and flower petals and that sort of thing; and of course everyone thought of the trash bin behind the florist shop.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
