mildew

English

Powdery mildew on pumpkin leaves

Etymology

From Middle English myldew, from Old English meledēaw, mildēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *milidauw, from *mili (“honey”) +‎ *dauw (“dew”). Compare West Frisian moaldau, Dutch meeldauw, German Mehltau. More at dew.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪl.djuː/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪl.d(j)u/
• Rhymes: -ɪldjuː, -ɪldu

Noun

mildew (uncountable)

1. (phytopathology) A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.

Derived terms

• antimildew
• downy mildew
• mildewcidal
• mildewcide
• mildewed
• mildewer
• mildewproof
• mildewy
• powdery mildew
• unmildewed
• wheat mildew

 

Descendants

• → Catalan: míldiu
• → French: mildiou
• → Portuguese: míldio
• → Spanish: mildiu

Translations

growth of minute fungi

• Afrikaans: skimmel (af)
• Albanian: myk (sq) m
• Arabic: تَعَفُّن m (taʕaffun), عُفُونَة f (ʕufūna)
• Armenian: բորբոս (hy) (borbos)
• Azerbaijani: kif
• Belarusian: цвіль f (cvilʹ), пле́сня f (pljésnja), бро́сня f (brósnja)
• Bulgarian: мана (bg) f (mana)
• Catalan: míldiu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 霉菌 (zh) (méijūn), 霉 (zh) (méi)

• Czech: plíseň (cs) f
• Danish: meldug (da), mug n or c
• Dutch: schimmel (nl) m, meeldauw (nl) m
• Esperanto: melduo
• Finnish: home (fi)
• French: mildiou (fr) m
• Georgian: ობი (obi), მილდიუ (mildiu), ჭრაქი (č̣raki)
• German: Mehltau (de) m, Schimmel (de) m
• Greek: μούχλα (el) f (moúchla)

  Ancient: ἐρυσίβη f (erusíbē)

• Hebrew: טַחַב (he) m (takhav)
• Hindi: फफूंदी (phaphūndī)
• Hungarian: lisztharmat (hu), üszög (hu), rozsda (hu), peronoszpóra (hu), penész (hu)
• Hunsrik: Milldau m
• Irish: caonach liath m, coincleach f
• Italian: muffa (it) f
• Jamaican Creole: junjo
• Japanese: 黴 (ja) (かび, kabi)
• Kazakh: зай (zai), зең (zeñ)
• Khmer: ផ្សិត (km) (phsət)
• Korean: 곰팡이 (gompang'i)
• Kyrgyz: көк дат (kök dat)
• Latin: aurūgō f, rōbīgō f
• Latvian: pelējums (lv) m
• Lithuanian: miltligė f
• Macedonian: му́вла f (múvla)
• Maori: kūpā, kāhekaheka, hōpurupuru
• Mongolian: хөгц (mn) (xögc)
• Old English: mildēaw m or n, meledēaw m or n
• Ottoman Turkish: كوف (küf)
• Polish: pleśń (pl) f
• Portuguese: míldio m, mofo (pt) m
• Romanian: mucegai (ro)
• Russian: пле́сень (ru) f (plésenʹ), ми́лдью (ru) f (míldʹju)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: плесан f, плијесан f, буђ m or f

  Roman: plesan (sh) f, plijesan (sh) f, buđ (sh) m or f

• Slovak: pleseň (sk) f
• Slovene: plesen f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pómjodk m, mjodnica f

  Upper Sorbian: pomjedź f

• Spanish: moho (es) m, mildiu
• Swedish: mjöldagg (sv)
• Tagalog: tagulamin
• Tajik: мағор (maġor), пӯпанак (püpanak), карра (karra)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Tibetan: ཧམ་འབུ (ham 'bu)
• Turkish: küf (tr)
• Ukrainian: плі́снява (plísnjava), цвіль (uk) f (cvilʹ), плі́сень (uk) f (plísenʹ)
• Uzbek: mogʻor (uz), poʻpanak (uz)
• Vietnamese: mốc (vi)
• Welsh: llwydni m
• West Frisian: skimmel

Verb

mildew (third-person singular simple present mildews, present participle mildewing, simple past and past participle mildewed)

1. (transitive) To taint with mildew.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 298, column 1:

     Hee giues the Web and the Pin, ſquints the eye, and makes the Hare‐lippe; Mildewes the white Wheate, and hurts the poore Creature of earth.

2. (intransitive) To become tainted with mildew.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Spouter-Inn”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 24:

     His bald purplish head now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull.

Translations

to taint with mildew

• Dutch: met schimmel bedekken
• Finnish: homehduttaa (fi)
• German: schimmeln (de), verschimmeln (de)
• Japanese: かびる (ja) (kabiru)
• Spanish: enmohecer (es)

to become tainted with mildew

• Czech: zplesnivět pf, plesnivět impf
• Dutch: beschimmelen (nl)
• Finnish: homehtua (fi), saada homehtumaan
• German: verschimmeln (de), schimmeln (de)
• Polish: pleśnieć (pl) impf, spleśnieć pf
• Russian: плесневе́ть (ru) impf (plesnevétʹ), заплесневе́ть (ru) pf (zaplesnevétʹ)
• Spanish: enmohecer (es)

See also

• mould, mold

Middle English

Noun

mildew

1. Alternative form of myldew