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Millets

 - 3 dictionary results

mil⋅let

[mil-it]
–noun
1. a cereal grass, Setaria italica, extensively cultivated in the East and in southern Europe for its small seed, or grain, used as food for humans and fowls, but in the U.S. grown chiefly for fodder.
2. any of various related or similar grasses cultivated as grain plants or forage plants.
3. the grain of any of these grasses.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME milet < MF, equiv. to mil (< L milium millet) + -et -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mil·let   (mĭl'ĭt)   
n.  
    1. An annual grass (Panicum milaiceum) cultivated in Eurasia for its grains and in North America for hay.

    2. The white grains of this plant.

  1. Any of several similar or related grasses.


[Middle English milet, from Old French, diminutive of mil, millet, from Latin milium; see melə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

millet 
cereal grain, c.1400, from M.Fr. millet, dim. of mil "millet," from L. milium "millet," cognate with Gk. meline, Lith. malnus (pl.) "millet."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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