entry
carnation
/kɑrˈneɪʃən/A fragrant flowering plant or pale flesh-pink color
From Latin carn- (flesh).
from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). OED points out that not all the flowers are this color. This French carnation had...
from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”) + ātiō (“-ation”). As a flower and its color, possibly instead
from French carnation "person's color or complexion" (15c.), which probably is
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). OED points out that not all the flowers are this color. This French carnation had...
from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”) + ātiō (“-ation”). As a flower and its color, possibly instead
from French carnation "person's color or complexion" (15c.), which probably is
+1 more sourceA carnation began its English career in the 1530s amid a tangle of flower names and color words. The leading explanation traces it through Middle French carnation and Italian carnagione to Late Latin carnātiō, “fleshiness,” ultimately linking it to Latin carō, “flesh”—which itself reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to cut.” Wait, really? The same family gives us carnal, carnage, carnivore, and incarnation, while the flower’s soft pink color supplied a much gentler branch of the family tree. There is a rival theory: the flower’s toothed petals looked like a little crown, so French coronation may have been reshaped into carnation; the evidence is messy, and the OED notes that not every carnation is flesh-colored. So when you see one at a school dance or in a florist’s bucket, remember that its name may preserve either a scrap of ancient flesh—or the ghost of a tiny floral crown.
The Story
A carnation began its English career in the 1530s amid a tangle of flower names and color words. The leading explanation traces it through Middle French carnation and Italian carnagione to Late Latin carnātiō, “fleshiness,” ultimately linking it to Latin carō, “flesh”—which itself reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to cut.” Wait, really? The same family gives us carnal, carnage, carnivore, and incarnation, while the flower’s soft pink color supplied a much gentler branch of the family tree. There is a rival theory: the flower’s toothed petals looked like a little crown, so French coronation may have been reshaped into carnation; the evidence is messy, and the OED notes that not every carnation is flesh-colored. So when you see one at a school dance or in a florist’s bucket, remember that its name may preserve either a scrap of ancient flesh—or the ghost of a tiny floral crown.
Modern Usage
A cheaper, overlooked alternative to a rose; also a flower associated with being high, according to informal slang entries
Kin & Kindred
From 'carn-'·flesh, meat; flesh color
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary