geranium

UK: /dʒɪˈreɪniəm/ US: /dʒɪˈreɪniəm/ ,( ji rā′nē əm)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ge•ra•ni•um /dʒɪˈreɪniəm/   n. [countable]

1. Plant Biology a common garden plant with small white, pink, or red flowers and rounded leaves.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

ge•ra•ni•um  ( ji rā′nē əm), n. 

1. Plant Biology any of numerous plants of the genus Geranium, which comprises the crane's-bills.
2. Plant Biology the wild geranium, G. maculatum, of eastern North America, having loose clusters of lavender flowers.
3. Plant Biology Also called stork's-bill. any of various plants of the allied genus Pelargonium, native to southern Africa, having showy flowers or fragrant leaves, widely cultivated in gardens and as houseplants.
4. Plant Biology a flower of this plant.
5. a vivid red color.

• Greek geránion name for various plants the fruit of which was thought to resemble a crane's bill, derivative of géranos crane; akin to Latin grūs
• Neo-Latin, for Latin geranion
• 1540–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

geranium / dʒɪˈreɪnɪəm/ noun

1. any cultivated geraniaceous plant of the genus Pelargonium, having scarlet, pink, or white showy flowers
   See also pelargonium
2. any geraniaceous plant of the genus Geranium, such as cranesbill and herb Robert, having divided leaves and pink or purplish flowers

Etymology: 16th Century: from Latin: cranesbill, from Greek geranion, from geranos crane