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orchid

orchid

106 3.9
A plant with unusual colorful flowers that often last a long time
  • noun
  • /ˈɔrkɪd/
translation icon : orquídea
  • She received a beautiful orchid as a gift on her birthday, and it brightened up the whole room.
  • orchid flowers
  • grow orchids
  • rare orchids

I'm telling you, folks, I'm growing orchids down there.

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Examples

  • They're orchids, Mrs. Schou, straight off the plane from Portugal, and they'll die if I leave them out here.

  • I'm particularly interested in woodland orchids.

  • "Oh, would you like to buy an orchid for the lady?"

  • And so an orchid is going to thrive in certain sunlight, water and soil.

  • There will be flowers, even a few white orchids for the occasion.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The world's largest orchid grows several metres tall.

  • I studied the literature and found out there are about 35,000 different orchid species.

    Academic text (2010)
  • I'm telling you, folks, I'm growing orchids down there.

  • In 1993, the wholesale value of orchids in Hawaii alone was nearly $11 million.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The rare ghost orchid is famous for its striking beauty and unusual shape.

Synonyms

orchidaceous plant
vsorchid
  • Specialized
8.0

A plant with unusually shaped, colorful flowers often grown in pots

is the simple noun form rather than the adjective based name
orchidean species
vsorchid
  • Specialized
9.2

A plant that belongs to the orchid family

is about a single plant rather than a whole species

Compounds

blue orchid
  • Indian
1 6.8

A large orchid from northern India with pale to deep lilac blue flowers

1 6.7

A houseplant with large flat flowers and wide shiny leaves

A wild orchid with a pouch-shaped lower petal that is hard to grow in gardens

A climbing tropical plant that produces pods called vanilla beans

9.9

A European wild flower whose bloom looks like a bumblebee

bog rein orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant with long stems of many small fragrant white flowers that grows in wet bogs

A flower with bright petals that look like a butterfly

An orchid with thick stems and white fragrant flowers that grows along the United States Pacific coast

A European wild flower with long spotted leaves and pink or white flowers with dark spots

An orchid with small yellow flowers that look like tiny dancers

A wild orchid with pink or purple flowers in a loose cluster that blooms in spring

An orchid that flowers in spring with pale outer petals and a large brown soft middle petal

A North American orchid with small delicate blooms that grows from Alaska to Baja California and east to Colorado

9.9

A small plant that grows in marshes with two low leaves and dull yellow green flowers

9.8

A small plant in Europe with flowers that look like flies

foxtail orchid
  • Specialized
9.6

A tropical plant with long, dense clusters of pink or white flowers

A type of orchid with many sweet-smelling pink, lilac, or red flowers on a tall stem

9.9

A wild orchid with funnel-shaped bright pink flowers that grows in the northeastern United States

fringed orchid
  • Specialized
9.3

A type of orchid with a deeply cut lower petal that blooms in summer

A small green wild flower with greenish blooms that grows in meadows and grasslands

A small southern European orchid with pale green and white flowers that smell sweet

9.9

A European wild flower with green flowers that look like small lizards

8.2

A flowering plant with purple or pink flowers that grows in wet meadows

A European orchid with large dark green flowers that have a faint smell

A plant, usually an orchid, with a flower shaped like a small helmet

Hooker's orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

An orchid with a long tube behind the flower and leaves at its base

A delicate Asian orchid people grow for soft dark leaves with bright white or gold veins

A plant with male and female flowers on one stem that sends out pollen when touched

9.9

An orchid from North America with rosy purple flowers and finely toothed leaves

A North American orchid with clusters of purple fringed flowers that grows in wet meadows and marshes

An orchid from the eastern United States with greenish flowers and a deeply cut lip

8.7

A greenish wildflower that has a fringed, deeply cut lower petal and grows in the eastern United States

An orchid with many small white or brown flowers on a spiral spike like a rattlesnake tail

rein orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

A wildflower with a lower petal shaped like a kidney

A small plant with large rose colored flowers that grows in South American forests

9.9

A North American orchid with two round leaves and greenish white flowers on one stalk

9.9

Small Australian orchid with loose groups of scented white flowers marked purple and orange

A cactus with flat joined stems and large showy flowers

A large family of flowering plants with bright, often unusual flowers found worldwide

A small tree with large bright flowers and hard dark wood

A flowering plant with flat, colorful flowers like garden pansies

A pale white plant with almost no leaves that gets food from fungi in shaded forests

A garden flower with delicate, multicolored petals that looks like a tropical flower

A wild flowering plant in North American wet prairies with small creamy scented flowers

A rare wildflower with white, fringed petals that grows in prairies

satyr orchid
  • South African
9.9

A plant with broad oval leaves and green, irregular flowers in southern Africa

swan orchid
  • Specialized
9.9

An orchid with long arching flowers that look like a swan's neck

tangle orchid
  • Australian
9.9

An orchid with tangled roots, thin wiry stems, and small fragrant green flowers

A wild flower like the fragrant orchid with smaller flowers, shorter stems, and very short spurs

9.9

A small plant with white waxy flowers and few leaves that grows in western US mountains

8.8

A thin wild flower with white, frilly blooms that grows in eastern North America

A flower with long thin petals that look like a spider

8.1

An orchid that grows along streams or ponds in western North America with leafy stems and greenish-brown and pinkish flowers

9.0

A Mexican flowering plant that grows on trees with grey-green leaves and partly open yellow flowers

7.7

A tropical water plant with floating leaves and large blue flowers that clogs rivers and lakes

A plant with pure white, fringed flowers that grows in wet meadows and bogs

zebra orchid
  • Australian
9.9

A small Australian orchid with pale yellow flowers marked with purple and a deep red lip

How Showy

cattleya
  • Specialized
1 9.9
orchid
106 3.9
rose
469 1.0
daisy
80 1.0
wildflower
33 2.2

Surface Forms

orchid singular
orchids plural

Etymology

Orchid comes from the Greek word orchis, meaning 'testicle', because the plant's underground roots looked like small testicles. That's why the name was used for the whole group of bright, often unusual flowers we now call orchids.