Other forms: mildews
Mildew is a fungus that grows in damp and stains what it touches. Mildew on the walls, smells of mildew, remove mildew.
It is flat and powdery where mould is fuzzy, and it grows on surfaces rather than into them, so it comes off more easily. Ventilation and dryness are the only real prevention. Note the origin, which is honey plus dew: the name was first given to a sticky sweet deposit on plants.
1nounmildewA fungus that grows in damp and stains what it touches.
“Black mildew had spread across the bathroom ceiling.”
mildew is a fungus.
Old English mildeaw is mele, honey, plus deaw, dew. It first named a sticky sweet deposit on plants.
Middle English
myldew
English, today
mildew
From Middle English myldew. From Middle English myldew, from Old English mildēaw, meledēaw, from Proto-West Germanic milidauw, from mili + dauw. Compare West Frisian moaldau, Dutch meeldauw, German Mehltau. More at dew.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA