catkin.
A type of inflorescence, consisting of an axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.
Meaning & usage
A type of inflorescence, consisting of an axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.
Where this word comes from
From Middle Dutch katteken (“catkin”, literally “little cat”). So named due to the resemblance of lengthier kinds to a kitten's tail, or, perhaps more probably, the fine fur found on some catkins (compare the pictures). Cognate with German Kätzchen, modern Dutch katje; compare French chaton (“kitten”; “catkin”). By surface analysis, cat + -kin.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.