Word of the Day

: October 14, 2023

foliage

noun FOH-lee-ij

What It Means

Foliage refers to the leaves of a plant or of many plants.

// The winding river cut its course beneath the thick green foliage of the jungle canopy.

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foliage in Context

"Summer hiking is undeniably breathtaking, but there’s something about the foliage of the fall that secures its spot as the best time of year to get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature." — Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 25 Aug. 2023

Did You Know?

Whether you’re a casual leaf peeper or a card-carrying botanist, a staunch New Englander or Caribbean beach bum, there’s plenty to love about foliage—though the pronunciation of foliage has long been a point of contention among English speakers. Most commonly accepted is the trisyllabic \FOH-lee-ij\. However, there’s no denying that the pronunciations \FOH-lij\ and even \FOY-lij\ have also staked their claim. The first of these disputed pronunciations is consistent with the pronunciation of the -iage ending in marriage and carriage. The second is often more fiercely denounced, in part because of its association with the nonstandard spelling foilage. But there’s redemption for this estranged pronunciation: foliage traces back to Middle French foille ("leaf"), which is also the source of the English word foil (as in "aluminum foil"). When adopted by Middle English speakers, foil originally meant "leaf." Love it or leaf it, there’s just no taking the "foil" out of foliage.