the.com/periwinkle
a flower and a sea snail wearing the same blue-purple name without apology
means A pale blue-purple color, the trailing evergreen plant whose flowers bear that hue, or a small edible marine snail with a coiled shell — all sharing the one name.
from Two separate words tangled into one spelling. The plant comes from Latin 'pervinca' (or 'vinca'), tied to 'vincire,' to bind, for its long binding stems — this passed through Old English as 'perwince.' The sea snail is unrelated: it likely derives from Old English 'pinewincle,' where '-wincle' is related to 'winkle' and possibly to a word for a winding, twisting shell. Over time the two drifted toward the same look and sound, and English, never one to fuss over coincidence, let them keep it.
- two creatures
- Both a trailing flower and an edible sea snail
- cancer fighter
- Yields vincristine, a leukemia chemotherapy drug
- crayon age
- Joined the Crayola box back in 1949
- snail menu
- French winkles are boiled and picked with pins
- color confusion
- Sits between blue and violet, refusing to choose
periwinkle blue — color named after the periwinkle flower, used in fashion and design since the 1600s
lesser periwinkle — vinca minor plant native to europe, contains alkaloids used in cancer medications
greater periwinkle — vinca major species, produces vinblastine used to treat childhood leukemia since the 1950s