Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various perennial herbs of the genus Geum in the rose family, having often pinnate basal leaves and variously colored flowers with many pistils.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The popular English name of species of plants of the genus Geum.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A plant of the genus Geum, of the rose family, esp. Geum urbanum, or herb bennet. They may bear red, yellow, or white flowers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany A plant of the genus Geum, especially Geum urbanum, or herb bennet.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various perennials of the genus Geum having usually pinnate basal leaves and variously colored flowers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English avence, from Old French, from Medieval Latin avencia.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word avens.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "There was a trail of tiny black ants.... I flicked them off with a few stern swipes of my apron, and made a mental note to see about finding some avens root for repellent."

    —Diana Gabaldon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (New York: Bantam Dell, 2005), 263

    January 31, 2010