any of various tropical plants of the genus Spathiphyllum, having a white or green spathe and a spike of fragrant flowers and often cultivated as an ornamental.
Origin of spathiphyllum
< New Latin, equivalent to Greekspáth(ē) blade, spathe + New Latin-i--i- (irregular for -o-) + Greek-phyllon, neuter of -phyllos-phyllous, in reference to the leaflike appearance of the spathes
