catkin
1
8.9
- noun
- /ˈkæt.kɪn/
- Specialized
- A huge pussy willow, taller than any she had ever seen, had bloomed and faded; the soft gray catkins had sprouted long ugly yellow whiskers.
- yellow catkins
- catkins in spring
- male catkins
Examples
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Aspen catkins flew in the air, so thick that when walking on the streets, you could breathe them in, and you would flick your hand to keep them away from your face.
Fiction book (2000) -
For Jondalar, she also chose some of the deep red male catkins from alder trees that she had collected very early in the spring.
Fiction book (1990) -
Only the catkins that are forming up are so pretty.
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Now, sometimes, catkins are called lamb's tails.
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At eye level, catkins and swollen buds made thin veils of yellow and green.
Fiction book (1991) -
Along the river, near the canoe shed, weeping willows rustled and dropped catkins on the muddy ground.
Fiction book (2001) -
The ochre-branched willows swayed stiffly, pollened catkins like yellow thumbprints.
Fiction book (2000) -
On a few of the trees, yellow catkins hung in clusters and dangled like golden beads.
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Yellow willow anthers emerging out of gray catkins form one of the most stimulating sights of spring.
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Long yellow catkins dangle from branch tips like overgrown woolly bear caterpillars.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A long thin cluster of small flowers that hangs from trees like willows
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Catkin comes from old words made of cat + -kin ('little'), so it literally meant 'little cat' or 'kitten'. People named the soft, furry flower clusters after kittens, as in the name 'pussy willow', so that image helps you remember a catkin is a slim, hanging, soft-looking flower cluster.