orpine

or or·pin

[ awr-pin ]

noun

1. a plant, Sedum telephium, of the stonecrop family, having purplish flowers.

orpine

/ ˈɔːpɪn; ˈɔːpaɪn /

noun

1. a succulent perennial N temperate crassulaceous plant, Sedum telephium, with toothed leaves and heads of small purplish-white flowers Also calledBritlivelongUSlive-forever

Word History and Origins

Origin of orpine¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French, back formation from orpiment orpiment

Word History and Origins

Origin of orpine¹

C14: from Old French, apparently from orpiment (perhaps referring to the yellow flowers of a related species)

Example Sentences

There, he whipped up the omelet of my dreams, puffy and rich, and served it with his just-plucked harvest, including acidic wood sorrel, spruce shoots and juicy, fleshy-leafed orpine.

From Washington Post

It is supposed that it was originally made for some lover to give to his mistress on Midsummer Eve, as the orpine plant is connected with that time.

From Project Gutenberg

The common name, "orpine," was given on account of the yellow, or orpine, flowers; and the name "stonecrop," from its always growing in stony places.

From Project Gutenberg

They set the orpine in clay upon pieces of slate or potsherd in their houses, calling it a “Midsummer man.”

From Project Gutenberg

We have no native plant so indestructible as garden orpine, or live-forever, which our grandmothers nursed and for which they are cursed by many a farmer.

From Project Gutenberg