Word of the day: Procumbent

In some cases, the way something grows or rests may tell us a great deal about what it is. For example, we may think of a plant that does not grow vertically, but instead grows along the ground, or a person who is resting and lying down instead of sitting up or standing up. This kind of resting, leaning, trailing, or lying down is called procumbent.This word may be used in a variety of situations, such as in botany to describe plants or plant stems that lie along the ground instead of growing up, as well as to describe a person or thing that lies down. Procumbent is the word that means something that lies flat or stretches out on the ground, or something that leans forward. It is usually used to describe something that is in a reclining position or something that stretches out on the ground.The word procumbent has Latin origins, with procumbere being the Latin verb that is derived from "to fall forward" or "to lie." The prefix "pro" means "forward," and "cumbere" means "to lie."When procumbent was adopted into English, it carried with it the basic meaning of "lying" or "leaning forward." The term has since been used in a botanical sense to refer to plants that grow on the ground.