mandrake
/ˈmændɹeɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.59 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any plant of the genus Mandragora, certain of which are said to have medicinal or aphrodisiac properties; the root of these plants often resembles the shape of a small person, hence occasioning various mythic, magical, or occult uses.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "[T]his is the true deſcription of the plant and therefore thoſe idle formes of the Mandrakes and Womandrakes, as they are fooliſhly ſo called, which have beene expoſed to publike view, both in ours and other lands and countries, are utterly deceitfull being the work of cunning knaves, onely to get mony by their forgery."
- "Pharmaceutically tested in recent times, mandrake show aphrodisiac properties."
- "Mandrakes were sometimes considered in the light of familiars. Witches kept both male and female specimens of the magic root in bottles[.]"
Etymology
From Middle English mandrake, mandroke, an alteration of mandragora with the ending -dragora reinterpreted as related to dragon and replaced with native drake, from Old English mandragora, from Medieval Latin mandragorās, from Ancient Greek μανδραγόρας (mandragóras).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: mandrake, mandragora, mandragorās, μανδραγόρας
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
mandrakelike
womandrake