Pollen

How to spell pollen

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pollen

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pollen mean?

1. nounThe fine powdery substance produced by flowering plants, carrying the male cells needed for reproduction.

Pollen in a sentence

• A thick layer of pollen coated the car windscreen each spring.

• The weather report warned that pollen levels would be high all weekend.

Where does pollen come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Pollen comes directly from the Latin word pollen, which literally meant 'fine flour' or 'fine dust', and was related to pollis, meaning 'fine meal' or 'powder'. The connection makes intuitive sense, because pollen is the powdery, dust-like material that flowering plants produce. The word was adopted into English in the eighteenth century as botanists began describing plant reproduction more precisely, and it kept its original Latin spelling almost untouched. Because the Latin form already ended in the unstressed -en that English readers expect, the spelling has stayed remarkably stable. The main trap for writers is the double l in the middle, echoing the Latin original, rather than a single l.

How the word is built

• pollen (from Latin pollen: fine flour or dust)