panax

See also: Panax and panaX

English

Noun

panax (plural panaxes)

1. (botany) Any plant of the genus Panax.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”). Used for ginseng by Linnaeus owing to its pervasive use in traditional Chinese medicine.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpa.naks/, [ˈpänäks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpa.naks/, [ˈpäːnäks]

Noun

panax m (genitive panacis); third declension

1. (Classical Latin, Medieval Latin) "allheal": various kinds of medicinal plants
2. (New Latin) ginseng

Usage notes

• The species of the plant is not clear. The seems to have been used by different classical authors to refer to a few different plants: all-heal, Ferulago galbanifera; Aesculapius' all-heal, Echinophora tenuifolia; centaury, Centaurea salonitana; feverfew, Centaurium erythraea; elecampane, Inula helenium; Chiron's all-heal, Mount Olympus Saint John's wort, Hypericum olympicum. Notably none of these are genus Panax.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	panax	panacēs
genitive	panacis	panacum
dative	panacī	panacibus
accusative	panacem	panacēs
ablative	panace	panacibus
vocative	panax	panacēs

Related terms

• panacea

Descendants

• Translingual: Panax

References

• “panax”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press