Wordwyrt

mildew

/ˈmɪlˌduː/MIL-doo
/ˈmɪlˌdu/MIL-doo

Meaninghoney-dew

Common meaning: a whitish mould on plants and damp things

Journey through time

  1. Old Englishmeledēaw‘honey-dew’source
  2. Middle Englishmeldewsource
  3. Englishmeaning shiftshoney-dew → a whitish mould on plants and damp thingsmildew‘a whitish mould on plants and damp things’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Old English mele + dēaw ‘honey + dew’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry MILDEW, p. 367 · dictionary scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app