pyrethrum

See also: Pyrethrum

English

Tanacetum cinerariifolium

Tanacetum cinerariifolium

Etymology

From Old English pyretre, from (and later reformed after) Latin pyrethrum (in Pliny), from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πύρεθρον (púrethron).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /paɪˈɹiθɹəm/

Noun

pyrethrum (countable and uncountable, plural pyrethrums)

1. Any of several daisy-like perennial African plants of the genus Tanacetum, especially Tanacetum cinerariifolium. [from 10th c.]
   • 1986, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind, Heinemann, published 2005, page 10:

     We children would re-tell the stories the following day to other children who worked in the fields picking the pyrethrum flowers, tea-leaves or coffee beans of our European and African landlords.

2. Anacyclus pyrethrum (pellitory of Spain)
3. (organic chemistry) Any of several insecticides obtained from these plants; pyrethrin.

Translations

any of several plants of the genus Tanacetum

• Japanese: 除虫菊 (ja) (じょちゅうぎく, jochūgiku)
• Kikuyu: barĩthiramu class 9/10
• Persian: گزترخون (gaztarxun), کزطلخون (kaztalxun)
• Swahili: pareto (sw)

References

• pyrethrum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tanacetum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tanacetum cinerariifolium on Wikispecies.Wikispecies