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• pollen
  pollen

  noun

  the fertilizing element of flowering plants, consisting of fine, powdery, yellowish grains or spores, sometimes in masses.
• Pollen
  Pollen

  noun

  Daniel. 1813–96, New Zealand statesman, born in Ireland: prime minister of New Zealand (1876)

pollen

American  

[pol-uhn] / ˈpɒl ən /

noun

pollens plural

1. the fertilizing element of flowering plants, consisting of fine, powdery, yellowish grains or spores, sometimes in masses.

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verb (used with object)

1. to pollinate.

pollen ¹ British  

/ pəˈlɪnɪk, ˈpɒlən /

noun

1. a fine powdery substance produced by the anthers of seed-bearing plants, consisting of numerous fine grains containing the male gametes

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Pollen ² British  

/ ˈpɒlən /

noun

1. Daniel. 1813–96, New Zealand statesman, born in Ireland: prime minister of New Zealand (1876)

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pollen Scientific  

/ pŏl′ən /

1. Powdery grains that contain the male reproductive cells of most plants. In gymnosperms, pollen is produced by male cones or conelike structures. In angiosperms, pollen is produced by the anthers at the end of stamens in flowers. Each pollen grain contains a generative cell, which divides into two nuclei (one of which fertilizes the egg), and a tube cell, which grows into a pollen tube to conduct the generative cell or the nuclei into the ovule. The pollen grain is the male gametophyte generation of seed-bearing plants. In gymnosperms, each pollen grain also contains two sterile cells (called prothallial cells), thought to be remnants of the vegetative tissue of the male gametophyte.

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pollen Cultural  

1. The male sex cells in plants. In flowering plants, pollen is produced in thin filaments in the flower called stamens. (See fertilization and pollination.)

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Discover More

When pollen is carried into the air by the wind, it frequently causes allergic reactions (see allergy) in humans.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pollenless
  adjective
• pollenlike
  adjective
• pollinic
  adjective
• pollinical
  adjective
• unpollened
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pollens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pollen

1515–25; < New Latin, special use of Latin: fine flour, mill dust

Explanation

Pollen is the grainy stuff inside a flowering plant that makes it possible for the plant to reproduce. Insects, birds, people, and the wind help to spread pollen between plants. When pollen spreads to the female part of a plant, it germinates, or begins the process of growing a new plant. When pollen spreads like this, it's called pollination, and it's how plants reproduce. Pollen is great for plants but not so great if you have hay fever, an allergy to pollen. The first meaning of pollen was "fine flour," which is what pollen looks like.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pollen Pollen pollens

The researchers completed 15,000 measurements of pollen and spores from plants that lived before, during, and after the extinction.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026

Air pollution, wildfire smoke, industrial disasters like the East Palestine, Ohio train wreck and extended pollen seasons are all reasons why people are increasingly concerned with making their indoor environments actually breathable.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

There’s a purpose to the stench: attracting flies and beetles to help carry pollen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

This combination of high pollen levels, very warm days and oppressive nights can be particularly troublesome for hay fever sufferers.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Because wind frequently blows pollen from one small maize field onto another, varieties are constantly mixing.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Pollen collected by bumblebees contained between two and seven times more heavy metals than pollen collected by honeybees across most of the metals examined.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

Equipped initially only with ideas and not a working prototype, Pollen and Isherwood sought cooperation and support from the British Admiralty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026

But, Ms Pollen said, foster care was a huge part of why Fern and her pups were doing so well.

From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2026

One Democrat, 72-year-old Jacqueline Pollen, said she is up for the challenge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025

Hosteen Mitchells fingers delicately sprinkled golden grains to make the figure of Pollen Boy on the mound where everything was prepared.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

The most allergenic tree pollens are from birch, cypress, Japanese cedar, latex, grass, and ragweed.

From Salon ● May 9, 2024

Some of the most common tree pollens that cause allergies include birch, cedar, cottonwood, maple, elm, oak and walnut, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2024

“We’ve now got three different dating techniques—radiocarbon dating of the seeds, radiocarbon dating of the pollens and luminescence dating of the quartz—that all show people were there.”

From Scientific American ● Oct. 5, 2023

The sticky stuff captured mammoths, saber-toothed cats, giant sloths and other iconic Ice Age mammals along with a near-perfect cross-section of the world they inhabited: birds, insects, plants, seeds, pollens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2022

Here, lodged in transparent cells, are the pollens, love-ferment of every flower of spring, making brilliant splashes of red and yellow, of black and mauve.

From The Life of the Bee by Sutro, Alfred

Related Words

• antigen
• dander
• irritant
• ragweed