mistletoe

UK/ˈmɪs(ə)ltəʊ/US/ˈmɪsəlˌtoʊ/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,082 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: mistletoes

Mistletoe is an evergreen with white berries that grows on trees. A sprig of mistletoe, kiss under the mistletoe, mistletoe on the apple tree.

It is a parasite that taps into the host branch for water and minerals while making its own food, and birds spread it by wiping the sticky seeds onto bark. The berries are poisonous to people. The name comes from Old English words for the plant and a twig.

Definitions of mistletoe

1nounmistletoeAn evergreen plant with white berries that grows on trees.B2
“At Christmas, people kiss under the mistletoe.”

mistletoe is a plant.

Where it comes from

Old English misteltan is mistel, the plant, plus tan, a twig.

Old Norse
mistilteinn
Old English
misteltān — mistletoe
Middle English
mistelto
English, today
mistletoe

Built from

mistilto · Middle English — European mistletoe
mistel · Old English — mistletoe; basil; birdlime
tān · Old English — sprig, shoot, twig
tā · Old English — toe

From Middle English mistelto, mistilto (“European mistletoe”), from Old English misteltān (“mistletoe”), from mistel (“mistletoe; basil; birdlime”) + tān (“sprig, shoot, twig”), possibly as a Old Norse mistilteinn; equivalent to mistle + tan. This was mistaken for the plural of tā (“toe”). Cognate with Danish mistelten (“mistletoe”), Norwegian misteltein (“mistletoe”), Icelandic mistilteinn (“mistletoe”). Compare also the simplex form West Frisian mistel (“mistletoe”), Dutch mistel (“mistletoe”), German Mistel (“mistletoe”), Swedish mistel (“mistletoe”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

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mistletoe in the wild

The eastern mistletoe native to North America, Phoradendron leucarpum, belongs to a distinct genus of the family Santalaceae.
Mistletoe
The eastern mistletoe of North America is similar, but has shorter, broader leaves and longer clusters of ten or more berries.
Mistletoe
Originally, Loranthaceae contained all mistletoe species, but the mistletoes of Europe and North America (Viscum, Arceuthobium, and Phoradendron) belong to the family Santalaceae.
Loranthaceae
The park gets its name from Mistletoe Corners, a local area where people gather to pick mistletoe during the winter holiday season.
Mistletoe State Park
In certain European countries, people with cancer are sometimes prescribed remedies made from specially harvested mistletoe, although no evidence of clinical benefit exists.
Anthroposophic medicine

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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