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lin·gon·ber·ry

(lĭngən-bĕr′ē)

1. A low creeping evergreen shrub (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), native to northern North America and Eurasia and having drooping clusters of small white or pinkish flowers.

2. The edible red berry of this plant, used to make sauces, jams, and preserves. In both senses also called cowberry, mountain cranberry.

[Swedish lingon (from Swedish ling, lingonberry, variant of ljung, from Old Norse lyng, heather, lingonberry, perhaps of substrate origin or akin to Old Church Slavonic lǫgŭ, grove, meadow, and Russian lug + Swedish -on, suffix forming the names of berries, probably from a Proto-Germanic plural ending) + BERRY.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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