flower; bloom; blossom; collectively, the reproductive organs and the envelope which surrounds them in angiosperms (also called "flowering plants"); flowering plant; angiosperm; the plant with flowers itself; a kind favor given by one person to another; the best of something; the virginity of a woman
“Je suis allé cueillir une fleur dans les champs.” — I went to pick a flower in the fields.
Synonyms: angiosperme, aide, faveur, service, crème de la crème, élite, gratin, meilleur
Inherited from Old French flur, flour, flor, from Latin flōrem (“flower; the finest part of something”), from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-s (“flower, blossom”), from *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”). In some senses, from Middle French fleur (“surface, upper side, top layer”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *flōraz (“floor”).