florist n.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to thrive, bloom," possibly a variant of PIE root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

It forms all or part of: blade; bleed; bless; blood; blow (v.2) "to bloom, blossom;" bloom (n.1) "blossom of a plant;" bloom (n.2) "rough mass of wrought iron;" blossom; cauliflower; chervil; cinquefoil; deflower; defoliation; effloresce; exfoliate; feuilleton; flora; floral; floret; florid; florin; florist; flour; flourish; flower; foil (n.) "very thin sheet of metal;" foliage; folio; folium; gillyflower; Phyllis; phyllo-; portfolio; trefoil.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek phyllon "leaf;" Latin flos "flower," folio, folium "leaf;" Middle Irish blath, Welsh blawd "blossom, flower;" Gaelic bile "leaflet, blossom;" Old English blowan "to flower, bloom."

word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.

Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.