dandelion

English

WOTD – 12 October 2007
A dandelion in flower
A seeding dandelion

Etymology

From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (lion's tooth), also in Late Latin dēns leōnis. The term has since died out in French (except in Swiss French), but compare Spanish diente de león, Portuguese dente-de-leão, Italian dente di leone, German Löwenzahn, Norwegian Bokmål løvetann, Welsh dant y llew, all descendants or loan translations of the Latin term.

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈdæn.dɪˌlaɪ.ən/, /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/
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Noun

dandelion (countable and uncountable, plural dandelions)

  1. (countable) Any of the several species of plant in the genus Taraxacum, characterised by yellow flower heads and notched, broad-ended leaves, especially the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
  2. (countable) The flower head or fruiting head of the dandelion plant.
  3. (uncountable) A yellow colour, like that of the flower.
    dandelion:  

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

dandelion (not comparable)

  1. Of a yellow colour, like that of the flower.

Translations

See also

Anagrams

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