Meaning & use
catkins
Last updated
“catkins” is a form of “catkin”.
Meaning
nounusually pluralbiology
Soft, dangling spikes of tiny flowers that grow on trees such as hazel, birch and willow and release pollen into the wind.
Grammar: Normally plural: the catkins swayed; a single one is a catkin.
Patterns
- catkins on something
- catkins of something
Yellow catkins hung from the hazel branches in early spring.
The children collected catkins on their walk through the woods.
Pollen from the birch catkins made her sneeze all week.
Word forms
| singular | catkin |
|---|
Common combinations
- hazel catkins
- Hazel catkins are often the first sign that winter is ending.
- willow catkins
- Bees feed on willow catkins when few other flowers are open.
- catkins dangle
- The catkins dangle from the bare branches like tiny lambs' tails.
- catkins appear
- Catkins appear before the leaves on many trees.
- pollen-laden catkins
- The pollen-laden catkins shook in the breeze and released a yellow cloud.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ament
- Ament is the technical botanical term for the same structure and is rarely used outside scientific writing, whereas catkins is the everyday word.
- blossoms
- Blossoms is a much broader word for flowers on trees, while catkins are specifically the drooping pollen-bearing spikes of certain trees.
Word family
Commonly confused: catkins or pussy willow?
catkins vs pussy willow
Pussy willow refers to the fuzzy silver buds of certain willows, which are a kind of catkin, but not every catkin is a pussy willow.
Practice
Which sentence uses catkins correctly?
Choose one answer.
Catkins are pollen-bearing flower spikes on trees, so only the hazel sentence fits. The others use it for snow, food or animals, which it does not mean.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “catkins”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.