mistletoe

Meaning

Noun

• Any of several hemiparasitic evergreen plants of the order Santalales with white berries that grow in the crowns of apple trees, oaks, and other trees, such as the European mistletoe (Viscum album) and American mistletoe or eastern mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum (species)).
• A sprig of one such plant used as a Christmas decoration, associated with the custom that a man may kiss any woman standing beneath it.

Related

Similar words

• miseleden, misselden, misseldine

Origin

• From Middle English mistelto, mistilto, from Old English misteltān, mistiltān, from mistel + tān (which was mistaken for the plural of tā), equivalent to . Cognate with Danish mistelten, Norwegian misteltein, Icelandic mistilteinn. Compare also the simplex form West Frisian mistel, Dutch mistel, German Mistel, Swedish mistel.