Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
pink fritillary

pink fritillary

9.9
A California plant with pink bell-shaped flowers that hang down
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : fritilaria rosa
  • The pink fritillary blooms in spring along the hillsides of California.

Examples

  • Gardeners admire the pink fritillary for its delicate pinkish-purple flowers.

  • Researchers discovered a new patch of pink fritillary near the riverbank.

  • The pink fritillary blooms beautifully in spring.

  • I saw a pink fritillary in the garden yesterday.

  • The pink fritillary blooms in spring along the hillsides of California.

  • Gardeners admire the pink fritillary for its delicate pinkish-purple flowers.

  • Researchers discovered a new patch of pink fritillary near the riverbank.

Synonyms

Fritillaria pluriflora
vspink fritillary
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild lily with pinkish purple bell-shaped flowers that grows in California

is the common descriptive name used instead of the formal species name
adobe lily
vspink fritillary
  • US
9.9

A wildflower with pinkish-purple bell-shaped flowers that grows in dry clay soil in California

emphasizes botanical family and nodding bell-shaped flower form rather than habitat

Surface Forms

pink fritillary singular
pink fritillaries plural

Morphology

pink + fritillary

The phrase is fully compositional: 'pink' names the color and 'fritillary' names the plant, so the referent is simply a fritillary that is pink in color. This adjectival modification follows common cross-linguistic patterns and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

Pink fritillary gets its name from pink, the flower's color, and fritillary, an old word for a checked or spotted pattern on the petals. One popular story says 'fritillary' once meant a small box for dice because the squares looked similar, so the name helps you picture a small pink bell flower with a patterned surface.