conifer

See also: Conifer

English

Etymology

From Latin cōnifer (“bearing cones”), by surface analysis, Latin cōnus (“cone”) +‎ -fer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnɪfə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

conifer (plural conifers)

1. (botany) A plant belonging to the order Coniferales; a cone-bearing seed plant with vascular tissue, usually a tree.
   • 2022 January 12, Fiona Harvey, “Conifer plantation push could threaten red squirrel population, study finds”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 November 2022:

     The research, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found this was not true in conifer plantations, where pine martens lack diverse sources of food and prey on red squirrels instead, turning them from a protector to a threat. […] But government planting schemes in the UK and Ireland have tended to favour conifers, which are easier to plant and harvest.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:conifer

Derived terms

• conifered
• coniferin
• coniferization
• coniferophagous
• coniferophyte
• coniferous
• gnetifer

Translations

plant

• Armenian: փշատերեւ ծառ (pʻšaterew caṙ)
• Catalan: conífera (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 針葉樹 / 针叶树 (zh) (zhēnyèshù)

• Cornish: saben f
• Czech: jehličnan (cs) m
• Danish: nåletræ (da) n
• Dutch: conifeer (nl) m, naaldboom (nl) m
• Esperanto: pinofito, konifero
• Faroese: nálatræ n
• Finnish: havupuu (fi)
• French: conifère (fr) m
• Georgian: წიწვოვანი (c̣ic̣vovani), წიწვოვანი ხე (c̣ic̣vovani xe)
• German: Nadelbaum (de) m; (specialist, not generally understood) Konifere (de) f
• Greek: κωνοφόρο (el) n (konofóro)
• Greenlandic: orpik meqqutaasalik
• Hungarian: toboztermő (hu)
• Icelandic: barrtré (is) n
• Indonesian: konifera (id), runjung (id)
• Ingrian: havupuu
• Italian: conifera (it) f
• Japanese: 針葉樹 (ja) (shin'yōju)
• Korean: 침엽수(針葉樹) (ko) (chimyeopsu)
• Macedonian: четинар m (četinar)
• Malay: konifer, runjung
• Māori: rākau koroī
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шилмүүст мод (šilmüüst mod)

• Norwegian: bartre n
• Polish: drzewo iglaste n, (colloquial) choinka (pl) f
• Portuguese: conífera (pt) f
• Romanian: conifer (ro) n, conifere n pl
• Russian: хво́йное де́рево n (xvójnoje dérevo)
• Slovak: ihličnan (sk) m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: jehlinowc m, jehlinowy štom m

• Spanish: conífera (es) f
• Swedish: barrträd (sv) n
• Ukrainian: хво́йне де́рево n (xvójne dérevo), хво́йні pl (xvójni, literally “conifers”)
• Welsh: conwydd f pl

Anagrams

• fir-cone, force in, in force, inforce

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱeh₃-der.

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóh₃nos

Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos)bor.

Latin cōnus

Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *bʰorós

Proto-Italic *-foros

Latin -fer

Latin cōnifer

From cōnus (“cone”) + -fer (“-bearing”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkoː.nɪ.fɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔː.ni.fer]

Adjective

cōnifer (feminine cōnifera, neuter cōniferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. (hapax legomenon) bearing conical fruit

   Synonym: cōniger

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 3.677–681:

     cernimus astantis nequiquam lumine torvo
     Aetnaeos fratres caelo capita alta ferentis,
     concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso
     aeriae quercus aut coniferae cyparissi
     constiterunt, silva alta Iovis lucusve Dianae.

     • Translation by David West

       We saw the brotherhood of Etna standing there helpless, each with his one eye glaring and head held high in the sky, a fearsome gathering, standing like high-topped mountain oaks or cone-bearing cypresses in Jupiter's soaring forest or the grove of Diana.

Usage notes

Attested once in the Classical period (see quotations above).

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	cōnifer	cōnifera	cōniferum		cōniferī	cōniferae	cōnifera
genitive	cōniferī	cōniferae	cōniferī		cōniferōrum	cōniferārum	cōniferōrum
dative	cōniferō	cōniferae	cōniferō		cōniferīs
accusative	cōniferum	cōniferam	cōniferum		cōniferōs	cōniferās	cōnifera
ablative	cōniferō	cōniferā	cōniferō		cōniferīs
vocative	cōnifer	cōnifera	cōniferum		cōniferī	cōniferae	cōnifera

References

• “conifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “conifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin conifer, French conifère. By surface analysis, con +‎ -ifer.

Noun

conifer n (plural conifere)

1. conifer

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	conifer	coniferul	conifere	coniferele
genitive-dative	conifer	coniferului	conifere	coniferelor
vocative	coniferule		coniferelor