Learn Romanian › mac
mac
poppy /mak/
noun#2310 most common
Also: poppy flower, poppy seed (in compounds like "ulei de mac")
Example sentences
Macul este roșu.
The poppy is red.
Am văzut un mac în grădină.
I saw a poppy in the garden.
Pe câmp cresc mulți maci roșii.
Many red poppies grow in the field.
Bunica pune semințe de mac în cozonacul de Paște.
Grandma puts poppy seeds in the Easter sweet bread.
Macii înfloresc la începutul verii, colorând câmpurile într-un roșu aprins.
Poppies bloom at the start of summer, coloring the fields a bright red.
Simbolul macului roșu a rămas asociat cu memoria celor căzuți în Primul Război Mondial.
The symbol of the red poppy has stayed linked to the memory of those who fell in the First World War.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | macul | macii |
| Genitive | macului | macilor |
| Accusative | macul | macii |
| Vocative | macule | macilor |
Word family
macpoppy (the plant or flower)
sămânță de macpoppy seed
ulei de macpoppy seed oil
mac roșured poppy (as a remembrance symbol)
Etymology
Unlike most core Romanian vocabulary, "mac" was not inherited from Latin. It belongs to a small set of words shared across the Balkans, matching forms found in Bulgarian and Serbian. Linguists see it as part of an old regional substrate word for the poppy plant that predates the spread of Latin in the area, and possibly connect it, at a distance, to Ancient Greek "μήκων" (mēkōn). The precise origin remains unsettled.
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