pollen
pol·len/ˈpɑlən/noun, verb
pollen is spelled P-O-L-L-E-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables (pol·len). It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pollen means “A fine, granular substance produced in flowers” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pollen is pollens.
How many letters and syllables are in pollen?
| Letters | 6: P-O-L-L-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: pol·len |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,613th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is pollen?
Pollen appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pollen?
- UK /ˈpɒlən/
- US /ˈpɑlən/
Pollen has 2 syllables, split pol·len in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-pollen.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of pollen
- pollens plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pollening participle, present
- pollened participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pollen mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A fine, granular substance produced in flowers.
- 2
Pollen grains (microspores) produced in the anthers of flowering plants.
- 3
obsoleteFine powder in general, fine flour.
verb
- 1
To cover with, or as if with, pollen.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pollen in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense fine granular substance produced in flowers:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pollen |
| German | Blütenstaub, Pollen |
| Portuguese | pólen |
| Spanish | polen |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pollen come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin pollen (“fine flour”), used by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century to describe the spores produced in the anthers of flowers.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).