I was playing a spelling game and got this word. I tried looking it up on etymonline.com but I didn't get any search results? I assume it is from combining two English words, but I was wondering if anyone could produce a more specific answer?
1 Answer
A minniebush is a type of shrub, found in some parts of the East Coast of the United States. Its Latin name is Menziesia pilosum, and it looks like this:
The etymology of the name, from Merriam Webster is:
minnie- (irreg. fr. Archibald Menzies †1842 Scot. botanist) + bush
Since the plant was found by the botanist Archibald Menzies, both the scientific and common names for it are derived from his name.
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1Given that Menzies is pronounced 'mingis', how is Menziesia pronounced? Is it Mingisia?– z7sg ѪCommented Jul 25, 2011 at 23:26
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@z7sg: I'm not a botanist, but Merriam Webster says that the pronunciation is \menˈzēzh(ē)ə\.– user10893Commented Jul 26, 2011 at 3:44