mullein
/ˈmʌlɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.59 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "There be foure ſortes of Mulleyne, as [Pedanius] Dioſcorides writeth: wherof yͤ two firſt are white Mulleyne, and of them one is Male, and the other female: The third is blacke Mulleyne: The fourth is wilde Mulleyne. […] The white male Mulleyn (or rather Wolleyn) hath […] the whole top with his pleaſant yellow floures ſheweth like to a waxe Candell or taper cunningly wrought."
- "As we all know, witches ride through the air on a broom, but sometimes their means of locomotion was a bulrush, a branch of thorn, mullein stalks, cornstalk, or ragweed, called fairies' horse in Ireland."
Etymology
From Middle English moleyne, from Anglo-Norman moleine, which is either a Celtic borrowing and derived from Proto-Celtic *melinos (“yellow”) from *meli (“honey”) – an adjective found in Breton melen (“yellow”) and Welsh melyn (“yellow”) – or from mol (“soft”), from Latin mollis (“soft”), referencing the plant's fluffy, downy leaves, also apparent in synonyms such as feltwort, flannel leaf, and velvet plant.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: moleyne, moleine, -, *melinos, mollis
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
common mullein
Cretan mullein
dark mullein
great mullein
hoary mullein
moth mullein
mullein foxglove
mullein pink