sainfoin

American  

[seyn-foin] / ˈseɪn fɔɪn /

noun

1. a Eurasian plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, of the legume family, having pinnate leaves and clusters of pink flowers, used for forage.

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sainfoin British  

/ ˈsænfɔɪn /

noun

1. a Eurasian perennial leguminous plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, widely grown as a forage crop, having pale pink flowers and curved pods

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Etymology

Origin of sainfoin

1620–30; < French, equivalent to Middle French sain (< Latin sānus healthy) + foin (< Latin fēnum, faenum hay)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sainfoin

Fiver and Acorn followed him out and fell to nibbling at a patch of sainfoin.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Wheat, clover, oats form the triennial course, other crops being rye, potatoes, Swede turnips, sainfoin and the oeillette or oil poppy.

From In the Heart of the Vosges And Other Sketches by a "Devious Traveller" by Matilda Betham-Edwards

It feeds on the wild heartsease, also on sainfoin and borage.

From British Butterfiles Figures and Descriptions of Every Native Species by W. S. (William Stephen) Coleman

A field of sainfoin in June, with its glorious blossoms of pink, is one of the prettiest sights in all creation.

From A Cotswold Village by J. Arthur Gibbs

But the poorest land of the hill country affords excellent pasturage for sheep, the staple commodity of the district; and the sainfoin, which grows wild, yields abundantly under cultivation.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 5 "Cosway" to "Coucy" by Various