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Canterbury bells

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

A European biennial herb (Campanula medium) widely cultivated for its showy, bell-shaped, blue, pink, or white flowers.

[From the association of the flowers with the bells on the horses of Canterbury pilgrims.]

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:

Indo-European Roots

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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