pollen

See also: Pollen and pol·len

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pollen (“fine flour”), used by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century to describe the spores produced in the anthers of flowers.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒlən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑlən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlən
• Hyphenation: pol‧len

Noun

Pollen grains on a flower.

pollen (usually uncountable, plural pollens)

1. A fine, granular substance produced in flowers.
2. (botany) Pollen grains (microspores) produced in the anthers of flowering plants. [from 1723]
   • 2013 May–June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

3. (obsolete) Fine powder in general, fine flour. [from 1523]
   • 1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, Froissart's Chronicles‎^[1], translation of original by Jean Froissart:

     and ther was good wyne of Gascoyne, […] as well of pollen, as of other vitailes

   • 1796, C. Lorimer, A Letter to the Honourable the Corn Commitee, on the Importation of Rough Rice, as a Supplement to Wheat Flour, London: […] T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 5:

     The bran, pollen and gurgions of this grain will be profitable to the miller; […]

Derived terms

• I'm allergic to pollen
• nonpollen
• pollen analysis
• pollenarious
• pollen basket
• pollen count
• pollen counter
• pollen grain
• pollen granule
• polleniferous
• pollenin
• pollenize, pollenise
• pollenless
• pollenlike
• pollen mother cell
• pollen parent
• pollenproof
• pollen sac
• pollen season
• pollen spore
• pollen tube
• pollen vortex
• pollen wasp
• polleny
• pollination
• polliniferous
• pollinivore
• pollinivorous
• sporopollen
• sporopollenin

Related terms

• pollinate

Translations

fine granular substance produced in flowers

• Albanian: pjalm (sq) m
• Amharic: የአበባ ዱቄት (yäʾäbäba duḳet)
• Arabic: حُبُوبُ اللِّقَاح m pl (ḥubūbu l-liqāḥ), حُبُوبُ الطَّلْع m pl (ḥubūbu ṭ-ṭalʕ)
• Aragonese: polen m
• Armenian: ծաղկափոշի (hy) (caġkapʻoši)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: polen m
• Azerbaijani: çiçək tozu, polen
• Bashkir: һеркә (herkə)
• Basque: lore-hauts (eu), polen (eu)
• Bengali: পরাগ (bn) (porag)
• Bhojpuri: पराग (parāg)
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: цветен прашец m (cveten prašec), полен m (polen)
• Catalan: pol·len (ca) m
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 花粉 (faa¹ fan²)

  Hokkien: 花粉 (zh-min-nan) (hoe-hún)

  Mandarin: 花粉 (zh) (huāfěn)

• Chuvash: шӑрка (šărk̬a)
• Czech: pyl (cs) m
• Danish: pollen (da) n
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: stuifmeel (nl) n, pollen (nl) n
• Esperanto: poleno
• Estonian: õietolm
• Finnish: siitepöly (fi)
• French: pollen (fr) m
• Galician: pole (gl) m
• Georgian: მტვერი (mṭveri)
• German: Blütenstaub (de) m, Pollen (de) m pl
• Greek: γύρη (el) f (gýri)

  Ancient Greek: γῦρις f (gûris)

• Gujarati: પરાગ m (parāg)
• Hawaiian: ehu, ʻehu
• Hebrew: אִבקָה (he) f
• Hindi: पराग (hi) m (parāg), रेणुका (hi) f (reṇukā)
• Hungarian: pollen (hu), virágpor (hu)
• Icelandic: frjókorn (is) n
• Ido: poleno (io)
• Indonesian: polen (id), serbuk sari (id)
• Irish: pailin f
• Italian: polline (it) m
• Japanese: 花粉 (ja) (かふん, kafun)
• Kannada: ಪರಾಗ (kn) (parāga)
• Khmer: លំអង (km) (lumʼɑɑng)
• Korean: 꽃가루 (ko) (kkotgaru)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: pollen n
• Latvian: ziedputekšņi m pl, putekšņi m pl
• Lithuanian: žiedadulkė f
• Malay: debunga (ms)
• Malayalam: പൂമ്പൊടി (ml) (pūmpoṭi)
• Māori: puehu, hae
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pollen n

  Nynorsk: pollen n

• Occitan: pollèn (oc) m
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: pyłek (pl) m
• Portuguese: pólen (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਪਰਾਗ m (parāg)
• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: polen (ro) n
• Russian: пыльца́ (ru) f (pylʹcá), цве́тень (ru) m (cvétenʹ)
• Samoan: please add this translation if you can
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀лен m, пѐлуд f

  Latin: pòlen (sh) m, pèlud (sh) f

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: peľ m
• Slovene: cvetni prah (sl) m
• Spanish: polen (es) m
• Swedish: pollen (sv) n
• Tagalog: mawo
• Tahitian: please add this translation if you can
• Tamil: மகரந்தம் (ta) (makarantam)
• Telugu: పరాగరేణువు (te) (parāgarēṇuvu)
• Thai: เรณู (th) (ree-nuu), ละอองเรณู (lá-ɔɔng-ree-nuu), เกสร (th) (gee-sɔ̌ɔn)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tocharian B: spaitu
• Tongan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: çiçek tozu (tr), polen (tr)
• Turkmen: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: пило́к m (pylók)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Uzbek: chang donacha
• Vietnamese: phấn (vi), phấn hoa
• Volapük: polen (vo)
• Welsh: paill m
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

pollen (third-person singular simple present pollens, present participle pollening, simple past and past participle pollened)

1. (transitive, poetic) To cover with, or as if with, pollen.

See also

• palyno-
• palynologic
• palynological
• palynologist
• palynology

Danish

Etymology

From Latin pollen.

Noun

pollen n (singular definite pollenet, plural indefinite pollen)

1. (botany) pollen

References

• “pollen” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.lə(n)/
• Hyphenation: pol‧len
• Rhymes: -ɔlən

Etymology 1

From Latin pollen.

Noun

pollen n (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. pollen

Usage notes

The common term in Dutch is stuifmeel. The term pollen is found in biology texts, but is furthermore in common use when identifying the causative agent of hay fever. In that sense, the word is often mistakenly construed as being plural (“Tranende, jeukende ogen en een loopneus: pollen zijn geen pretje”, Metro, 29 February 2016; “Er hangen al pollen in de lucht: hooikoortsseizoen is begonnen”, Het Laatste Nieuws, 10 January 2018; “Pollen kunnen nu al voor hooikoorts zorgen”, De Telegraaf, 22 December 2018).

Synonyms

• stuifmeel

Etymology 2

From English poll.

Verb

pollen

1. (computing) to poll, to periodically check the status of a device or variable

Conjugation

Conjugation of pollen (weak)
infinitive	pollen
past singular	pollde
past participle	gepolld
infinitive	pollen
gerund	pollen n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	poll	pollde
2nd person sing. (jij)	pollt, poll2	pollde
2nd person sing. (u)	pollt	pollde
2nd person sing. (gij)	pollt	pollde
3rd person singular	pollt	pollde
plural	pollen	pollden
subjunctive sing.1	polle	pollde
subjunctive plur.1	pollen	pollden
imperative sing.	poll
imperative plur.1	pollt
participles	pollend	gepolld
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion.

Etymology 3

Noun

pollen

1. plural of pol

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin pollen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ.lɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pollen m (plural pollens)

1. pollen

Derived terms

• pollinique
• polliniser
  • pollinisateur

See also

• palynologie
• palynologique
• palynologue

Further reading

• “pollen”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Verb

pollen (weak, third-person singular present pollt, past tense pollte, past participle gepollt, auxiliary haben)

1. (computing) to poll, to periodically check the status of a device or variable.

Conjugation

Conjugation of pollen (weak, auxiliary haben)

infinitive		pollen
present participle		pollend
past participle		gepollt
auxiliary		haben
	indicative			subjunctive
	singular	plural		singular	plural
present	ich polle	wir pollen	i	ich polle	wir pollen
	du pollst	ihr pollt		du pollest	ihr pollet
	er pollt	sie pollen		er polle	sie pollen
preterite	ich pollte	wir pollten	ii	ich pollte1	wir pollten1
	du polltest	ihr polltet		du polltest1	ihr polltet1
	er pollte	sie pollten		er pollte1	sie pollten1
imperative	poll (du) polle (du)	pollt (ihr)

¹Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

Composed forms of pollen (weak, auxiliary haben)

perfect
	singular	plural		singular	plural
indicative	ich habe gepollt	wir haben gepollt	subjunctive	ich habe gepollt	wir haben gepollt
	du hast gepollt	ihr habt gepollt		du habest gepollt	ihr habet gepollt
	er hat gepollt	sie haben gepollt		er habe gepollt	sie haben gepollt
pluperfect
indicative	ich hatte gepollt	wir hatten gepollt	subjunctive	ich hätte gepollt	wir hätten gepollt
	du hattest gepollt	ihr hattet gepollt		du hättest gepollt	ihr hättet gepollt
	er hatte gepollt	sie hatten gepollt		er hätte gepollt	sie hätten gepollt
future i
infinitive	pollen werden		subjunctive i	ich werde pollen	wir werden pollen
				du werdest pollen	ihr werdet pollen
				er werde pollen	sie werden pollen
indicative	ich werde pollen	wir werden pollen	subjunctive ii	ich würde pollen	wir würden pollen
	du wirst pollen	ihr werdet pollen		du würdest pollen	ihr würdet pollen
	er wird pollen	sie werden pollen		er würde pollen	sie würden pollen
future ii
infinitive	gepollt haben werden		subjunctive i	ich werde gepollt haben	wir werden gepollt haben
				du werdest gepollt haben	ihr werdet gepollt haben
				er werde gepollt haben	sie werden gepollt haben
indicative	ich werde gepollt haben	wir werden gepollt haben	subjunctive ii	ich würde gepollt haben	wir würden gepollt haben
	du wirst gepollt haben	ihr werdet gepollt haben		du würdest gepollt haben	ihr würdet gepollt haben
	er wird gepollt haben	sie werden gepollt haben		er würde gepollt haben	sie würden gepollt haben

Latin

Alternative forms

• pollis

Etymology

Probably from a Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“flour, dust”); compare with Ancient Greek πάλη (pálē, “the finest meal; any fine dust”), as well as pulvis (though De Vaan is skeptical of the latter link).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔl.lɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔl.len]

Noun

pollen n (genitive pollinis); third declension

1. (literally) flour, especially fine flour, milldust
2. (transferred sense) the (very) fine powder or dust of other things

   pollen piperis ― ground pepper (literally, “powder of pepper”)

   pollen tūris ― incense powder

   aliquid in pollen tundere ― to grind something into powder

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	pollen	pollina
genitive	pollinis	pollinum
dative	pollinī	pollinibus
accusative	pollen	pollina
ablative	polline	pollinibus
vocative	pollen	pollina

Synonyms

• (transferred sense: fine powder or dust): pulvis

Derived terms

• polenta
• pollināris (Classical Latin)
• pollinārium (New Latin)
• pollinārius (Classical Latin)
• pollinātus (Classical Latin)
• pollinicus (post-Classical)
• pollinium (New Latin)
• pollinivorus (New Latin)
• pollinōdium (New Latin)
• pollinoīdēs (New Latin)
• pollinōsus (New Latin)

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: poddine, poddini
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: polline
  • Neapolitan: ponila (Taranto), ponnula (Lecce)

Borrowings:

• → Catalan: pol·len
• → Danish: pollen
• → Dutch: pollen
• → English: pollen
• → French: pollen
  • → Romanian: polen
• → German: Pollen
• → Norwegian Bokmål: pollen
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: pollen
• → Portuguese: pólen
• → Spanish: polen
• → Swedish: pollen

Further reading

• “pollen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pollen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pollĕn”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1,195/1.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “pollen”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 9: Placabilis–Pyxis, page 131
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “pŏllen”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 497

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin pollen.

Noun

pollen n (definite singular pollenet)

1. (botany) pollen

Related terms

• pollinere
• pollinering

References

• “pollen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔlːn̩/

Etymology 1

From Latin pollen.

Noun

pollen n (definite singular pollenet)

1. (botany) pollen

Related terms

• pollinere
• pollinering

Etymology 2

Noun

pollen m

1. definite singular of poll

References

• “pollen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Noun

pollen n (uncountable)

1. (botany) pollen

Declension

Declension of pollen

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	pollen	pollens
	definite	pollenet	pollenets
plural	indefinite	—	—
	definite	—	—

Derived terms

• pollenallergi (“pollen allergy”)
• pollenallergiker (“someone allergic to pollen”)

Related terms

• pollinera
• pollinering

References

• “pollen”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “pollen”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “pollen”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)