hummel
/ˈhʌm(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.61 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Hummel figurine
Example Sentences
- "A pure Aberdeenshire heifer was served with a pure Teeswater bull, to whom she had a first-cross calf. The following season, the same cow was served with a pure Aberdeenshire bull; the produce was a cross calf, which at two years old had very long horns, the parents both hummel."
- "A little hillock gave me ample concealment and an excellent rest for my rifle; and there I reposed as hinds and little stags filed by. First came the wary old hind, looking sharply about her; then a little stag, indifferent to consequences; then more hinds and calves; and last of all the great hummel. As he landed on top of the brow, about fifty yards from me, he stopped to look around. I drew a bead on the junction of his neck and shoulder, pressed gently on the trigger; a bang—smack, followed, and the great hummel lay stretched upon the heather."
- "Hornless Stags are not unknown, especially in the German forests. By this expression is meant, not stags wich have once carried antlers and shed them, but stags which have never possessed any. In the Highlands they are termed hummel stags; […] Haviers, or stags which have been gelded when young, have no horns, as is well known, and in the early part of the stalking season, when seen through a glass, might be mistaken for hummels; but as the season advances, the necks of the latter swell, and (except in the matter of horns) they assume all the characteristics, both in appearance and behaviour, of ordinary stags, and are thus easily distinguished from haviers."
- "Regeneration in the animal kingdom always requires a wound stimulus. Regrowth of antlers is no exception, the wounded pedicle exposed by the casting of the previous set of antlers serving as a vital stimulus for renewal of antler growth. This was convincingly demonstrated in congenitally polled (‘hummel’) red deer, which lack antlers, have pedicles, and can be induced to form a set of antlers if the tips of the pedicles are amputated."
- "Contrary to popular sporting belief[…], it has also been postulated that the reason for the hummel’s lack of antlers is not genetic, but relates to poor nutrition in the early stage of life, and a consequent failure to grow pedicles[…]."
- "The farmers ſervants who have families, and engage by the year, are called hinds, and receive 10 bolls oats, 2 bolls barley, and 1 boll peas, which two laſt articles are called hummel corn, […]"
Etymology
Probably from Middle English hamelen (“to maim, mutilate; to cut short”), from Old English hamelian (“to hamstring, mutilate”), from Proto-Germanic *hamalōną, *hamlōną (“to mutilate”), from Proto-Indo-European *kem- (“hornless; mutilated”). Cognate with Dutch hamel (“wether”), English hamble, Low German hommel, hummel (“an animal lacking horns”), humlich, dialectal hommlich (“lacking horns”), Bavarian humlet (“lacking horns”), German hammeln, hämmeln (“to geld”), Icelandic hamla (“to maim, mutilate”). OxfordDictionaries.com suggests that the “ear of grain with its awns removed” sense preceded the “animal without antlers or horns” sense.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhʌm(ə)l/
- British English: /ˈhʌm(ə)l/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Hummels (plural)
humble (alternative)
hummels (present, singular)
hummeling (US, participle)
hummelling (UK, participle)
hummeled (US, participle)
hummeled (US, past)
hummelled (UK, participle)
hummelled (UK, past)