dandelion

[ dan-dl-ahy-uhn ]

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.

dandelion

/ ˈdændɪˌlaɪən /

noun

1. a plant, Taraxacum officinale, native to Europe and Asia and naturalized as a weed in North America, having yellow rayed flowers and deeply notched basal leaves, which are used for salad or wine: family Asteraceae (composites)
2. any of several similar related plants

Word History and Origins

Origin of dandelion¹

1505–15; < Middle French, alteration of dent de lion, literally, tooth of (a) lion, translation of Medieval Latin dēns leōnis, in allusion to the toothed leaves

Word History and Origins

Origin of dandelion¹

C15: from Old French dent de lion, literally: tooth of a lion, referring to its leaves

Example Sentences

In 2021, Ms Nicholson decided to "take back control" by getting a tattoo of a dandelion clock in the place her alopecia first began- to represent her hair "flying away".

From BBC

Kate reads not radar but dandelion fluff and the way wind ripples across wheat.

From Los Angeles Times

The fibres, at least 50 times smaller than a human hair, are so lightweight that the researchers printed them directly onto the fluffy seedhead of a dandelion without collapsing its structure.

From Science Daily

Its subject matter — a blooming iris, dandelions, birch trees — did not seem controversial.

From New York Times

He ate dandelion greens, birch bark, pigweed, wild onions, mushrooms, grass seed, watercress.

From Literature