hellebore
1 synonym for hellebore, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — Any of the flowering garden plants of the genus Helleborus, in the buttercup family, traditionally credited with medicinal properties.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Christmas rose
How to use hellebore
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
hellebore border
garden hellebore
The garden-plant sense is everyday gardening vocabulary, while the pesticide sense now sounds dated.
Etymology
Hellebore descends through Old French and Medieval Latin from the Ancient Greek helleboros. The initial h was later added back into English spelling to match the Greek original, even though it had dropped out in the French and Latin forms.
Full origin of hellebore →Frequently asked questions
What is a hellebore plant?
It is a garden flower from the genus Helleborus, in the buttercup family, traditionally thought to have medicinal properties.
Is hellebore poisonous?
A toxic extract called false hellebore, taken from the unrelated genus Veratrum, was once used as a pesticide; whether true garden hellebores of the genus Helleborus share that toxicity is a separate matter this entry does not cover.
Where does the word hellebore come from?
It passed into English through Old French and Medieval Latin from the Ancient Greek helleboros, and the initial h was restored later to match the Greek spelling.
