dandelion

English

WOTD – 12 October 2007

A dandelion in flower

A seeding dandelion

Etymology

From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Latin dēns leōnis, referring to the jagged shape of the plant's leaves. The term has since died out in French (except in Swiss French, perhaps surviving there under the influence of German Löwenzahn with the same literal meaning), but compare Spanish diente de león, Portuguese dente-de-leão, Italian dente di leone, German Löwenzahn, Norwegian Bokmål løvetann, Welsh dant y llew, all descendants, calques, or loan translations of the Latin term.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdæn.dɪˌlaɪ.ən/, /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/

• Audio (UK):

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• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

dandelion (countable and uncountable, plural dandelions)

1. (countable) Any of the several species of plant in the genus Taraxacum, characterised by yellow flower heads and notched, broad-ended leaves, especially the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
2. (countable) The flower head or fruiting head of the dandelion plant.
3. (uncountable) A yellow colour, like that of the flower.

   dandelion:  

Hyponyms

• Taraxacum albidum, a white-flowering Japanese dandelion.
• Taraxacum californicum, the endangered California dandelion.
• Taraxacum japonicum, Japanese dandelion. No ring of smallish, downward-turned leaves under the flowerhead.
• Taraxacum kok-saghyz, Russian dandelion, which produces rubber.
• Taraxacum laevigatum, red-seeded dandelion; achenes reddish brown and leaves deeply cut throughout length. Inner bracts' tips are hooded.
  • Taraxacum erythrospermum, often considered a variety of Taraxacum laevigatum.
• Taraxacum officinale (syn. Taraxacum officinale subsp. vulgare), common dandelion. Found in many forms.

Derived terms

• blue dandelion
• dandelion and burdock
• dandelion clock
• dandelion coffee
• dandelion greens
• dandelionlike
• dandelion salad
• dandelion seed
• dandelion tea
• dandelion wine
• dandelion yellow
• desert dandelion
• fall dandelion
• Kazakh dandelion
• Russian dandelion

 

Translations

plant, wild flower of the genus Taraxacum

• Albanian: luleradhiqe (sq)
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: هِنْدِبَاء f (hindibāʔ), طَرْخَشْقُون m (ṭarḵašqūn), مُرّ (ar) m (murr) (obsolete)
• Armenian: խատուտիկ (hy) (xatutik)
• Avar: хӏамагага (ḥʳamagaga)
• Azerbaijani: zəncirotu
• Bashkir: бәпембә (bəpembə)
• Basque: txikoria-belar, sorgin-belar, mando-belar
• Belarusian: адува́нчык m (aduvánčyk), дзьмуха́вец m (dzʹmuxávjec)
• Bhojpuri: दुधाल (dudhāl), दुदाल (dudāl), बारान (bārān)
• Bulgarian: глухарче n (gluharče)
• Buryat: нямняа сэсэг (njamnjaa seseg), нямняахай (njamnjaaxaj)
• Catalan: dent de lleó (ca) f
• Chechen: баппа (bappa)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蒲公英 (pou⁴ gung¹ jing¹)

  Mandarin: 蒲公英 (zh) (púgōngyīng)

• Czech: pampeliška (cs) f
• Danish: mælkebøtte (da) c, løvetand c
• Dargwa: къакъажужу (ɢaɢažužu)
• Dutch: paardenbloem (nl), leeuwentand (nl) m
• Esperanto: leondento (eo), leontodo
• Estonian: võilill (et)
• Faroese: hagasólja f, várhagasólja f, tyrilshattur m
• Finnish: voikukka (fi)
• French: pissenlit (fr), dent-de-lion (fr) m (Switzerland), baraban (fr) m
• Galician: dente-de-león m, mexacán (gl) m
• Georgian: ბაბუაწვერა (babuac̣vera)
• German: Löwenzahn (de) m, Hundeblume (de) f, Kuhblume f, (South German, regional) Seichblume f, Pusteblume (de) f, Butterblume (de) f

  Alemannic German: Chrottepösche m (Zurich), Söiblueme f (Bern), Sunnewirbel (Schwyz), Loiezaa

• Greek: αγριοραδίκι (el) n (agrioradíki)
• Halkomelem: qwáyúwél
• Hebrew: מרגנית (he) f (marganít), שינן (he) m (šinán), סביון (he) m (savyón)
• Hindi: सिंहपर्णी (hi) f (siṅhaparṇī), डेंडिलियन m (ḍenḍiliyan)
• Hungarian: pitypang (hu), gyermekláncfű (hu)
• Icelandic: fífill (is) m
• Indonesian: bunga randa tapak
• Ingrian: maitokukka
• Ingush: баппа (bappa)
• Irish: caisearbhán (ga) m
• Italian: soffione (it) m, dente di leone m
• Japanese: たんぽぽ (ja) (tanpopo)
• Javanese: pakliman
• Kazakh: бақбақ (baqbaq)
• Korean: 민들레 (ko) (mindeulle)
• Kumyk: елпинчек (yelpinçek)
• Kyrgyz: каакым (ky) (kaakım)
• Ladin: pulëntes f pl
• Latgalian: pīnine f
• Latin: aphaca f
• Latvian: pienene (lv) f
• Lithuanian: kiaulpienė f
• Luxembourgish: Bettseechesch f, Pissblumm f
• Macedonian: глуварче n (gluvarče), млечка f (mlečka), млечајка f (mlečajka)
• Malay: dandelion, paliman, ڤليمن
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tohetaka, tohetake, tawao
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: багваахай цэцэг (bagvaaxaj ceceg)

  Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠭᠪᠠᠬᠠᠶ
  ᠴᠡᠴᠡᠭ (baɣbaqay čečeg)

• Nogai: маьметекей (mämetekey)
• Norman: pissenlît m, dent-de-lion f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: løvetann (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: løvetann f

• Occitan: dent de leon f, pissalach (oc) m, gravèl m
• Old English: ǣġwyrt f
• Ottoman Turkish: هندبا (hindiba), كونه‌یك (güneyik)
• Persian: قاصدک (fa) (qâsedak)
• Plains Cree: ᐅᓵᐋᐧᐱᑯᓀᐢ, osâwâpikones
• Plautdietsch: Schlangenbloom f
• Polish: mlecz (pl) m, podbiał (pl) m, dmuchawiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: dente-de-leão (pt) m
• Romanian: păpădie (ro) f
• Russian: одува́нчик (ru) m (oduvánčik)
• Scottish Gaelic: beàrnan-Brìde m, bior nam Brìde m, caisearbhan nam muc m, fiacaill-leòmhainn f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: масла́чак m

  Roman: masláčak (sh) m

• Slovak: púpava (sk) f
• Slovene: regrat (sl) m
• Spanish: diente de león (es) m
• Swedish: maskros (sv) c
• Tajik: коқу (koqu)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tashelhit: ⵡⴰⵡⵊⴹⵎ m (wawjḍm), ⴰⵡⵊⴹⵉⵎ m (awjḍim)
• Tatar: тузганак (tt) (tuzganaq)
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: แดนดี้ไลออน (daendêelaion)
• Turkish: karahindiba (tr), güneyik (tr)
• Turkmen: tozga
• Ukrainian: кульба́ба f (kulʹbába)
• Uyghur: مامكاپ (mamkap)
• Uzbek: qoqi (uz), qoqigul (uz), gulqoqi (uz), momaqaymoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: bồ công anh
• Volapük: (plant) tarak (vo), (flower) tarakaflor (vo)
• Walloon: såvaedje cécoreye (wa) f, dint-d'-liyon m, pixhelét m, salåde des tchamps (wa) f
• Welsh: dant y llew (cy) m
• Yiddish: בלעזערל (yi) n (blezerl), לופֿטל (yi) n (luftl)

color of a dandelion flower, dandelion color, dandelion yellow

• Finnish: voikukankeltainen
• German: Löwenzahnfarbe f, Löwenzahngelb n
• Volapük: tarakafloraköl, tarakaflorayelov

Adjective

dandelion (not comparable)

1. Of a yellow colour, like that of the flower.

Translations

of a yellow colour

• Danish: mælkebøtte (da), løvetand
• Finnish: voikukankeltainen
• German: löwenzahnfarbig, löwenzahngelb n
• Hungarian: pitypangsárga
• Norwegian: løvetann (no)
• Polish: żółty (pl)
• Slovene: rumen (sl) m, rumena f
• Volapük: tarakaflorakölik, tarakaflorayelovik

See also

• clock
• goatsbeard
• hawk's beard
• kok-saghyz
• oxtongue
• pissabed
• Taraxacum
• Appendix:Colors

Anagrams

• daldinone