mildew
/ˈmɪl.djuː/US/ˈmɪl.d(j)u/
mildew noun: a growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.
Noun
mildew (countable and uncountable, plural mildews)
- A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.
Verb
mildew (third-person singular simple present mildews, present participle mildewing, simple past and past participle mildewed)
- To taint with mildew.
- Hee giues the Web and the Pin, ſquints the eye, and makes the Hare‐lippe; Mildewes the white Wheate, and hurts the poore Creature of earth.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- To become tainted with mildew.
- His bald purplish head now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Spouter-Inn”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 24
mildew meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
mildew in Hindi
- growth of minute fungi
- फफूंदी phaphūndī
mildew in Urdu
- پھپھوندی
mildew in Telugu
- mildew, mold, dirt, cobwebs
- బూజు būju
mildew in Malayalam
- വസ്ത്രങ്ങളിലെ കരിമ്പൻ, പൂപ്പ്, വെളളക്കറ
More languagesFewer languages
- mildew in Kannada
- ಅಣಬೆ, ಬೂಜು, ಬುಕುಟು, ಬುರುಸು
- mildew in Tagalog
- tagulamin
- mildew in Arabic
- تَعَفُّن taʕaffun, عُفُونَة ʕufūna
- mildew in Indonesian
- kapang, cendawan
- mildew in Vietnamese
- mốc
Examples of mildew in a sentence
- The onus is on the landlord to make sure the walls are protected from mildew.
- It was dark and musty, the carpet giving off an olid smell of mildew.
- That night I lay on a buttony mildewed company mattress between my favorite sheets.
Forms of mildew
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | mildews |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | mildews |
| present participle | mildewing |
| past participle | mildewed |
| past | mildewed |
Origin of mildew
From Middle English myldew, from Old English mildēaw, meledēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *milidauw, from *mili (“honey”) + *dauw (“dew”). Compare West Frisian moaldau, Dutch meeldauw, German Mehltau. More at dew.
Words formed from mildew
Phrases with mildew
Questions about mildew
- What does mildew mean?
- Mildew means a growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances.
- What is mildew in Hindi?
- Mildew in Hindi is फफूंदी (phaphūndī). See Mildew meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is mildew?
- Mildew can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce mildew?
- Mildew is pronounced /ˈmɪl.djuː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of mildew?
- The plural of mildew is mildews.
Words near mildew in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mildew (page history and authors); mildew (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); బూజు (Telugu) (page history and authors); mildew (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mildew (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mildew.wav.
Cite this entry: “mildew.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mildew. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.