melliferous
/məˈlɪfəɹəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "[I]t vvas impoſſible to tell the Number of Palm-Trees, Olive-Trees, and Fig-trees [in Canaan]; beſides the Paſturage for raiſing innumerable Cattle; and vvas the great Market, for the Arabians and all the Countries about. And being Mountanous, could not but abound vvith Melliferous Plants of the beſt kind."
- "Pliny [the Elder] ſays this flovver [the anemone] […] differs alſo from ranunclulus in not having a melliferous pore on the clavv of each petal."
- "Thus, for the due fertilization of the common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) it is necessary that the irritable stamens should be brought into contact with the pistil by the application of some stimulus to the base of the filament; but this would never take place were not insects attracted by the melliferous glands of the flower to insinuate themselves amongst the filaments, and thus while seeking their own food unknowingly fulfil the intentions of nature in another department."
- "In the Yucatan of Mexico, most resource-poor farmers manage garden, overstory, and edge vegetation to generate plant products for household use and income from non-timber forest products such as honey. Competing growth is removed around 34 melliferous plant species at field edges and in neighboring woodlands. This pruning requires in-depth knowledge of flowering phenology of melliferous and polliniferous species in the area."
- "The importance of the flowering in the dry season was reported by Porter-Bolland (2003), who found that at least 30% of the melliferous flora of Campeche flowers in the dry season."
- "The Hymenoptera belonging to the melliferous or honey-collecting division of the Aculeata, are known by the peculiar conformation of the hind feet, of which the first joint is compressed and extended into the form of a square plate, and provided on its inside with brush-like tufts; these organs are employed for the purpose of collecting and carrying the pollen of flowers, which is employed for the nourishment of the young."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *mélit Proto-Italic *meli Latin mel Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *bʰorós Proto-Italic *-foros Latin -fer Latin melliferlbor. Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English melliferous PIE word *mélit Learned borrowing from Latin mellifer (“honey-bearing, honey-producing, melliferous”) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives denoting the presence of a quality, typically in abundance). Mellifer is derived from mel (“honey”) (plural form mella; ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mélit (“honey”)) + -fer (suffix meaning ‘bearing, bringing, carrying’).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *mélit
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /məˈlɪfəɹəs/
- British English: /mɪˈlɪfəɹəs/
Inflected Forms
more melliferous (comparative)
most melliferous (superlative)