cattail

American  

[kat-teyl] / ˈkætˌteɪl /

noun

1. any tall, reedlike marsh plant of the genus Typha, especially T. latifolia, having long, sword-shaped leaves and dense, cylindrical clusters of minute brown flowers.

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Etymology

Origin of cattail

First recorded in 1425–75, cattail is from the late Middle English word cattestail. See cat, tail ¹

Example Sentences

Hull matched Vu's four-under-par 68 in a third round played in difficult, windy conditions on the Whirlwind Golf Club's Cattail Course.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2025

Drive past the billboard advertising “year-round fun,” past the closed restaurants and boarded-up houses, past the Tin Cup Trailhead, the Shrine of the Pines sign and the Cattail Cafe.

From New York Times • Jun. 8, 2013

Cattail Plus: You can use the cattail�s flowers as a flour supplement for your pancakes.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Protectorate—called the Cattail Kingdom by some and the City of Sorrows by others—was sandwiched between a treacherous forest on one side and an enormous bog on the other.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

Part of his infantry, with Gregg’s cavalry, crossed and proceeded on the Vaughan Road—the infantry to Cattail Creek, the cavalry to Dinwiddie Court House, when its advance encountered a portion of our cavalry, and retreated.

From A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital by Jones, John Beauchamp