Etymo

mushroom

A fungus with a familiar stalk-and-cap shape.

Played on · Day 56 · word 2 of 5

Several spellings before mushroom

How mushroom reached English

oldest first
  1. Late Latin

    mussirio

    ‘A mushroom’

  2. Anglo-French

    musseron

    ‘A mushroom or toadstool’

  3. Middle English

    musheron

    ‘A mushroom, fungus or toadstool’

  4. English

    mushroom

    ‘A fleshy fungus with a stalk and cap’

The story of mushroom

The route goes through Late Latin mussirio, Anglo-French musseron and Middle English musheron.

Anglo-French musherum is an alternative to musseron. The Latin stem mussirion- is not another independent chronological stage.

Sources

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