iodine n.

small wild plant with purplish-blue flowers, c. 1300, from Old French violete (12c.), diminutive of viole "violet," from Latin viola "the violet, a violet color," cognate with Greek ion (see iodine), probably from a pre-Indo-European substrate Mediterranean language. The color sense (late 14c.) developed from the flower.

word-forming element meaning "like, like that of, thing like a ______," from Latinized form of Greek -oeidēs (three syllables), from eidos "form," related to idein "to see," eidenai "to know;" literally "to see" (from PIE *weid-es-, from root *weid- "to see"). The -o- is connective or a stem vowel from the previous element. Often implying an incomplete or imperfect resemblance to the thing indicated.