English Explanatory Dictionary

dandelion

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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. The flower head or fruiting head of the dandelion plant.
  3. A yellow colour, like that of the flower.
adj
  1. Of a yellow colour, like that of the flower.

Pronunciation

/ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/ /ˈdæn.diˌlaɪ.ən/ /ˈdæn.dɪˌlaɪ.ən/ en-uk-dandelion.ogg En-us-dandelion.ogg en-au-dandelion.ogg

Word forms

dandelion dandelions

Etymology

From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Latin dēns leōnis, referring to the jagged shape of the plant's leaves. The term is now rare in French (together with liondent, calque from Germanic), 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, calques, or loan translations of the Latin term. First attested in the late 14th c. Displaced various words, including native Old English ǣġwyrt, native Middle English houndes-tooth, and English tell-time and swine's snout; and mostly displaced English cankerwort, monk's head, and pissabed.

Related words

clock goatsbeard hawk's beard kok-saghyz oxtongue pissabed Taraxacum

Derived words

blue dandelion Bolander's mock dandelion dandelion and burdock dandelion clock dandelion coffee dandelion greens dandelionlike dandelion salad dandelion seed dandelion tea dandelion wine dandelion yellow desert dandelion dwarf dandelion fall dandelion false dandelion Italian dandelion Kazakh dandelion Russian dandelion

Translations

Finnish: voikukankeltainen German: Löwenzahnfarbe German: Löwenzahngelb Polish: kolor mniszka Spanish: color leonado Spanish: color aleonado Volapük: tarakafloraköl Volapük: tarakaflorayelov
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