begonia
UK[bɪˈɡəʊ.ni.ə]US[bɪˈɡoʊ.ni.ə]
n
A garden plant with brightly colored flowers and often decorative leaves.
Etymology
The word 'begonia' is an eponym, a scientific name given in honor of a person. It was coined by the French botanist Charles Plumier in the late 17th century. He named the genus after his patron, Michel Bégon, a French governor and avid plant collector in the Caribbean. The name was subsequently adopted into botanical Latin and then into English, retaining its form as a simple label for the plant, with no inherent meaning derived from its parts.
Analysis
The word is a modern Latin genus name, adopted as a single lexical unit into English. It is not productively segmented into smaller, meaningful English morphemes.
Examples
The garden was filled with vibrant red and pink begonias.
She carefully potted the new begonia, ensuring its soil was well-drained.
Begonias are popular for adding color to shady areas of the garden.