What does "darnel" mean?

Any of genus Lolium of grasses, especially as a weed in wheat fields.

What is a synonym for "darnel"?

Common synonyms include: bearded darnel, cheat, cockle, cockle, lolium temulentum, poison darnel.

Darnel

//ˈdɑːnəɫ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any of genus Lolium of grasses, especially as a weed in wheat fields. uncountable, usually
"With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, / Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow / In our sustaining corn."
2
weedy annual grass often occurs in grainfields and other cultivated land; seeds sometimes considered poisonous wordnet
3
Any of genus Lolium of grasses, especially as a weed in wheat fields.; especially, species Lolium temulentum, often host to a fungus intoxicating to humans and animals. uncountable, usually

Synonyms

All synonyms

bearded darnel cheat cockle cockle lolium temulentum poison darnel

Example

More examples

"With harlocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers, / Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow / In our sustaining corn."

Etymology

From Middle English darnel, dernel, from Old Northern French darnelle ( > dialectal French dernelle, darnette), of Germanic origin, possibly Proto-West Germanic *darjan (“to harm, injure”). Related to Walloon darne, derne (“stunned, dazed, drunk”), Middle Dutch verdarnt, verdaernt (“stunned, dumbfounded, angry”). The association with being dazed or drunkenness is due to the well-known intoxicating effects of the plant.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.