campion

Likely from Middle English campion, a variant of champioun; see champion. In classical times, the rose campion was fitted in garlands used to crown victors.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæmpiən/

campion (plural campions)

1. Some flowering plants of the genus Lychnis.
2. Any flowering plant of the genus Silene.
   • 1878, Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Furl of fresh-leaved dogrose down

     Then over his turnèd temples—here—

     Was a rose, or, failing that,

     Rough-Robin or five-lipped campion clear

     For a beauty-bow to his hat

• “campion” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Borrowed from Italian campione, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin campio, campionem, from Frankish *kampijō (or a Lombardic equivalent) from Proto-Germanic *kampijô, based on Latin campus (“level ground”); cf. also French champion.

campion m (plural campioni, feminine equivalent campioană)

1. champion

• câmp