English

fanleaf

From fan + leaf.

A compound of fan + leaf

Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’

Latin vannus ‘fan for winnowing grain’

Old English fann ‘a winnowing fan’

Middle English fan

English fan

Proto-Germanic *laubą

Proto-West Germanic *laub

Old English lēaf

Middle English lef ‘Foliage’

English leaf

Today it means

noun Any member of Psathyrotes, a genus of North American desert plants, brittlestems.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.