the.com/rosette
A medal's fancier cousin, worn by people who refuse to be pinned down to just a ribbon.
means A round, pleated or gathered ornament of ribbon (or its shape rendered in metal, stone, or icing) used as a badge, decoration, or architectural flourish.
from French rosette, literally 'little rose,' a diminutive of rose — itself from Latin rosa. The name is pure description: gathered ribbon pleated into circular folds looks like a rose's layered petals, so the word simply calls it what it resembled. The same root gave us 'rose window' in cathedrals, another case of circular, petal-like design borrowing the flower's name.
- origin
- named for rose-shaped pleats, not actual roses
- horse shows
- blue ribbon tradition flipped in the UK, red wins there
- architecture
- carved rosettes decorate ceilings since ancient Greece
- biology bonus
- also describes leaves growing in a circular cluster