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dandelion - 5 dictionary results
dan⋅de⋅li⋅on
[dan-dl-ahy-uh
n] 
–noun
| 1. | a weedy composite plant, Taraxacum officinale, having edible, deeply toothed or notched leaves, golden-yellow flowers, and rounded clusters of white, hairy seeds. |
| 2. | any other plant of the genus Taraxacum. |
Origin:
1505–15; < MF, alter. of dent de lion, lit., tooth of (a) lion, trans. of ML dēns leōnis, in allusion to the toothed leaves
1505–15; < MF, alter. of dent de lion, lit., tooth of (a) lion, trans. of ML dēns leōnis, in allusion to the toothed leaves
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To dandelion
dan·de·li·on (dān'dl-ī'ən)  (click for larger image in new window) n.
[Middle English dent-de-lioun, from Old French dentdelion, from Medieval Latin dēns leōnis, lion's tooth (from its sharply indented leaves) : Latin dēns, dent-, tooth; see dent- in Indo-European roots + Latin leōnis, genitive of leō, lion; see lion.] Word History: Dent-de-lioun, the Middle English form of dandelion, makes it easy to see that our word is a borrowing of Old French dentdelion, literally, "tooth of the lion," referring to the sharply indented leaves of the plant. Modern French dent-de-lion, unlike Modern English dandelion, reveals to anyone who knows French what the components of the word are. The English spelling reflects the pronunciation of the Old French word at the time it was borrowed into English. The t in dentdelion probably disappeared early in Old French, having been absorbed into the related sound of the d. The earliest recorded instance of the word occurs in an herbal written in 1373, but we find an instance of dandelion used in a proper name (Willelmus Dawndelyon) in a document dated 1363. |
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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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dandelion
Dan"de*li`on\, n. [F. dent de lion lion's tooth, fr. L. dens tooth + leo lion. See Tooth, n., and Lion.] (Bot.) A well-known plant of the genus Taraxacum (T. officinale, formerly called T. Dens-leonis and Leontodos Taraxacum) bearing large, yellow, compound flowers, and deeply notched leaves.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : dandelion
Spanish:
diente de león,
German:
der Löwenzahn,
Japanese:
タンポポ
dandelion
1513, from M.Fr. dent de lion, lit. "lion's tooth" (from its toothed leaves), transl. of M.L. dens leonis. Other folk names, like tell-time refer to the custom of telling the time by blowing the white seed (the number of puffs required to blow them all off supposedly being the number of the hour), or to the plant's more authentic diuretic qualities, preserved in M.E. piss-a-bed and Fr. pissenlit.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: dan·de·li·on
Pronunciation: 'dan-d&l-"I-&n
Function: noun
: any plant of the genus Taraxacum;especially : an herb (T. officinale) sometimes grown as a potherb and nearly cosmopolitan as a weed
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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