dandelion

CEFRB1

/ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A common plant with yellow flowers and fluffy seeds.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A yellow colour, like that of the flower.

Examples

  • A dandelion is a weed, isn't it?

  • Should I drink dandelion coffee while I'm pregnant?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈdæn.diˌlaɪ.ən/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The flower head or fruiting head of the dandelion plant.

  2. 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).

adjective

Extra meaning

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

More examples

In context

  • There are asexual variants among all sorts of creatures, including jellyfish, dandelions, lichens and lizards.

  • the sanguine hue of the poppy and the hibiscus, the gold of the daisy and dandelion, the dark green of the sorrage on either side, and the blue and purple of the blossoming mulberry and sycamore

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The golden blank in the field turned into white fluff.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.