active component of chili peppers, 1851, from capsicum, the genus name of the plants from which it is extracted, + chemical suffixes. Capsicine (1816) was an earlier name of an impure form of it.

1877, from Modern Latin Spirochæta, the genus name, from spiro- Modern Latin combining form of Greek speira "a coil" (see spiral (adj.)) + Greek khaite "hair" (see chaeto-).

genus of herbs of the aster family, 1767, from Modern Latin (Linnæus, 1763), named for German botanist Johann Gottfried Zinn (1729-1759) + abstract noun ending -ia.

fungus genus established 1700 (Tournefort) for the "puffball" mushrooms, from Latinized form of Greek lykos "wolf" (see wolf (n.)) + perdesthai "to break wind," from PIE imitative root *perd-.

any tree of the genus Citrus, or its fruit, 1825, from the Modern Latin genus name, from Latin citrus "citron tree," the name of an African tree with aromatic wood and lemon-like fruit, the first citrus fruit to become available in the West. The name, like the tree, is probably of Asiatic origin [OED] or from a lost non-IE Mediterranean language [de Vaan]. But Klein and others trace it to Greek kedros "cedar," perhaps via Etruscan (a suggested by the change of -dr- to -tr-).

large genus of flowering plants including carnations, 1849, from Modern Latin (Linnaeus), literally "flower of Zeus," from Greek Dios, genitive of Zeus "Zeus" (see Zeus) + anthos "flower" (see anther).

plant of the rosaceous genus Agrimonia, from Old English agrimonia from Latin agrimonia. Prior says it is "probably" from Greek argemōnē, "but what this plant was, or why it was called so, is unknown."

"birth, origin," late 15c. (Caxton), from French naissance "birth, parentage, place of origin" (12c.), present participle of naître, from Gallo-Roman *nascere, from Latin nasci "be born" (see genus).

oldest known genus of the horse family, about the size of a fox and first known from fossil remains found in New Mexico, 1879, Modern Latin, from eo- "earliest" + Greek hippos "horse" (from PIE root *ekwo- "horse").

genus of duck-like water birds of the northern hemisphere, 1752, coined in Modern Latin (1550s), from Latin mergus "waterfowl, diver" (from mergere "to dip, immerse;" see merge (v.)) + anser "goose" (see goose (n.)).