sainfoin

[ seyn-foin ]

noun
  1. a Eurasian plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, of the legume family, having pinnate leaves and clusters of pink flowers, used for forage.

Origin of sainfoin

1
1620–30; <French, equivalent to Middle French sain (<Latin sānus healthy) + foin (<Latin fēnum,faenum hay)

Words Nearby sainfoin

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How to use sainfoin in a sentence

  • In spring the land is green with corn and oak trees, and pink with the pink of sainfoin flowers.

    The Story of Perugia | Margaret Symonds
  • No experimental agriculturist ever studied his lucerne and sainfoin as they have studied the grasses of that field.

  • On land, once considered worthless, he cut four hundred tons of sainfoin from one hundred and four acres.

    Makers of Modern Agriculture | William Macdonald
  • The two most striking exceptions are from foreign soil, the purple-blue lucerne and the crimson sainfoin.

  • There are occasional fields of sainfoin and of turnips; but these latter are small, and no ridging or hurdling is yet practised.

British Dictionary definitions for sainfoin

sainfoin

/ (ˈsænfɔɪn) /


noun
  1. a Eurasian perennial leguminous plant, Onobrychis viciifolia, widely grown as a forage crop, having pale pink flowers and curved pods

Origin of sainfoin

1
C17: from French, from Medieval Latin sānum faenum wholesome hay, referring to its former use as a medicine

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012