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melliferous
Jul. 29th, 2024 07:40 ammelliferous (muh-LIF-er-uhs) - adj., yielding or having to do with honey.
Dictionaries that define it as "producing honey" are being imprecise to the point of confusion: it doesn't apply to bees themselves, but the materials they use to make honey. So -- there's the botanical definition, (of a plant) bearing a substance, such as nectar or pollen, collected by bees to produce honey; the anatomic definition, (of a gland) producing honey (which could also be applied to a honey dispenser); and the metaphoric extension, honeyed/sweet (often used of music and other sounds). Created from Latin mellifer, honey-bearing (from mel, honey + -fer, suffix meaning bearing/bringing/carrying) + English -ous, adjectival suffix.
---L.
Dictionaries that define it as "producing honey" are being imprecise to the point of confusion: it doesn't apply to bees themselves, but the materials they use to make honey. So -- there's the botanical definition, (of a plant) bearing a substance, such as nectar or pollen, collected by bees to produce honey; the anatomic definition, (of a gland) producing honey (which could also be applied to a honey dispenser); and the metaphoric extension, honeyed/sweet (often used of music and other sounds). Created from Latin mellifer, honey-bearing (from mel, honey + -fer, suffix meaning bearing/bringing/carrying) + English -ous, adjectival suffix.
---L.
