nepenthes
nepenthes Lexical Profile
nepenthes Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Any of various carnivorous tropical pitcher plants of the family Nepenthaceae (genus Nepenthes), native primarily to Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and northern Australia, characterized by climbing stems, leaves ending in ornate hanging fluid-filled pitchers that trap insects, and upright racemes or panicles of small, four-sepaled greenish, yellowish, or reddish-brown unisexual flowers.
A potion or drug mentioned in ancient Greek mythology that chases away sorrow and induces forgetfulness of grief or suffering; by extension, anything that brings welcome oblivion from pain or trouble.
"To the exhausted travelers, the warm hearth and quiet music acted as a soothing nepenthes for their weary minds."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Latin 'nepenthes', from Ancient Greek 'nēpenthēs' ('banishing sorrow'), formed from 'nē-' ('not') and 'penthos' ('grief, sorrow'). Carl Linnaeus applied the name to the genus of tropical pitcher plants in 1737, alluding to Homer's Odyssey, in which Helen of Troy serves a potion that makes drinkers forget all their grief.
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