pennyroyal

[ pen-ee-roi-uhl ]

noun
  1. an aromatic Old World plant, Mentha pulegium, of the mint family, having clusters of small purple flowers and yielding a pungent essential oil used medicinally and as an insect repellent.

  2. Also called mock pennyroyal. a similar, related plant, Hedeoma pulegioides, of eastern North America, having bluish flowers growing from the leaf axils.

  1. any of several other aromatic plants of the mint family.

Origin of pennyroyal

1
1520–30; penny + royal; replacing late Middle English puliol real<Anglo-French; Middle French poliol (<Latin *pūlēgiōlum, diminutive of pūlēgium pennyroyal) + real, earlier form of royal

Words Nearby pennyroyal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pennyroyal in a sentence

  • The school year ended and pennyroyal, the “hired help,” who had been paying her annual visit to her sister, came back to the farm.

    David Dunne | Belle Kanaris Maniates
  • pennyroyal baked griddle-sized cakes, delivering them one at a time direct from 115 the stove to the consumer.

    David Dunne | Belle Kanaris Maniates

British Dictionary definitions for pennyroyal

pennyroyal

/ (ˌpɛnɪˈrɔɪəl) /


noun
  1. a Eurasian plant, Mentha pulegium, with hairy leaves and small mauve flowers, that yields an aromatic oil used in medicine: family Lamiaceae (labiates)

  2. Also called: mock pennyroyal a similar and related plant, Hedeoma pulegioides, of E North America

Origin of pennyroyal

1
C16: variant of Anglo-Norman puliol real, from Old French pouliol (from Latin pūleium pennyroyal) + real royal

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012