saxifrage

[ sak-suh-frij ]

/ ˈsæk sə frɪdʒ /

noun

any plant of the genus Saxifraga, certain species of which grow wild in the clefts of rocks, other species of which are cultivated for their flowers.

Nearby words

saxe-weimar-eisenach, saxhorn, saxicoline, saxicolous, saxifragaceous, saxifrage, saxifrage family, saxitoxin, saxo grammaticus, saxon, saxon blue

Compare saxifrage family.

Origin of saxifrage

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin saxifraga (herba) stone-breaking (herb), equivalent to saxi-, combining form of saxum stone + -fraga, feminine of -fragus breaking; see fragile

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for saxifrage

Saxifrage, and stone-crop and house-leek are here in variety.
Nature Near London|Richard Jefferies
Doris brought in the first violets on the fifteenth, with a few wisps of saxifrage and ragged robin.
Kit of Greenacre Farm|Izola Forrester
Only where tiny streams trickled and sang through rocks and shallow courses, grew ferns and the huge leaves of the saxifrage.
The Rules of the Game|Stewart Edward White
March 10—Poplar and willow catkins started; also equisetum (horse-tail), saxifrage, and probably other water plants.
Birds and All Nature, Vol. V, No. 4, April 1899|Various

Pistil of a Saxifrage, of two simple carpels or pistil-leaves, united at the base only, cut across both above and below.
The Elements of Botany|Asa Gray

British Dictionary definitions for saxifrage

saxifrage

/ (ˈsæksɪˌfreɪdʒ) /

noun

any saxifragaceous plant of the genus Saxifraga, characterized by smallish white, yellow, purple, or pink flowers

Word Origin for saxifrage

C15: from Late Latin saxifraga, literally: rock-breaker (probably alluding to its ability to dissolve kidney stones), from Latin saxum rock + frangere to break

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

Word Origin and History for saxifrage

saxifrage

type of plant typically found in cold regions, late 14c., from Old French saxifrage (13c.), from Late Latin saxifraga, name of a kind of herb, from Latin saxifraga herba, literally "a rock-breaking herb," from saxifragus "stonebreaking," from saxum "stone, rock" + frag-, root of frangere "to break" (see fraction). Pliny says the plant was so called because it was given to dissolve gallstones, but a more likely explanation is that it was so called because it grows in crevices in rocks. (Latin used different words for "stone" and "gallstone" -- saxum and calculus). Related: Saxifragaceous.