mullein
/ˈmʌlɪn/ noun
Forms mulleins mullen
- noun Any of a few hundred species of European and Asian plants, of the genus Verbascum, especially that majority that have yellow flowers.
Synonyms
Aaron's rod cow's lungwort feltwort flannel leaf velvet plant
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any plant of the genus Verbascum. They are tall herbs having coarse leaves, and large flowers in dense spikes. The common species, with densely woolly leaves, is Verbascum Thapsus. Moth mullein. See under Moth.
Etymology [OE. moleyn, AS. molegn.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mullein”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details