Daisy

How to spell daisy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce daisy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does daisy mean?

1. nounA small wild or garden flower with white petals around a yellow centre.

Daisy in a sentence

• The children picked a daisy from the edge of the lawn.

• A single daisy had opened in the morning sun.

Where does daisy come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Daisy is one of the most charming compound words in English, formed from the Old English phrase dæges eage, which literally meant 'day's eye'. The name was given because the common daisy opens its white petals at dawn and folds them shut again at dusk, so the flower seemed to track the sun like a watching eye. Over many centuries the two words were squeezed together and worn down in pronunciation, the phrase dæges eage softening through Middle English forms until it became the single smooth word we now spell daisy. This is why the spelling looks nothing like 'day' or 'eye' any more, even though both are hiding inside it. The plant is native across Europe, so the word is purely Germanic in origin rather than borrowed, and tracing it back to 'day's eye' is the easiest way to remember why it ends in -sy rather than -zy.

How the word is built

• From Old English dæges (day's)
• eage (eye), 'day's eye'; modern -y ending