[car.na.tion] n [MF, fr. OIt carnagione, fr. carne flesh, fr. L carn-, caro] (ca. 1535) 1 a (1): the variable color of human flesh (2): a pale to grayish yellow b: a moderate red
2: a plant of any of numerous often cultivated and usu. double-flowered varieties or subspecies of an Old World pink (Dianthus caryophyllus) orig. flesh-colored but now found in many color variations