maidenhair

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Wikipedia has an article on:

Maidenhair

Wikipedia

EtymologyEdit

From maiden +‎ hair.

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪdənhɛː/

NounEdit

maidenhair (plural maidenhairs)

1. Either of two species of fern with delicate, hair-like stalks, especially Adiantum capillus-veneris
   • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society 2007, p. 178:

     Our common Maidenhair does from a number of hard black fibres, send forth a great many blacking shining brittle stalks, hardly a span long [...].

2. Designating various types of moss or flowering plants.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 318:

     The ‘maidenhair’ in maidenhair moss, for instance, does not refer to the hair on the maiden's head.

3. (North America, now regional) Either of two ericaceous plants, the creeping snowberry or the checkerberry.

TranslationsEdit

SynonymsEdit

• (fern): maidenhair fern