WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
pach•y•san•dra
(pak′ə san′drə),USA pronunciation n.
- Plant Biologyany plant of the genus Pachysandra, as the Allegheny spurge or Japanese spurge, the leaves of which grow in a rounded clump, widely used as a ground cover in the U.S.
- Neo-Latin: the genus name, irregularly from Greek pachýs thick + Greek andr- (stem of ané̄r man; see andro-) + -a -a2; so called in reference to the thick stamens of the male flowers
- 1805–15
'pachysandra' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):