noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The first bud, or growing point, of a plant embryo, situated above the cotyledons.
2. 2
   down feather of young birds; persists in some adult birds wordnet
3. 3
   A down feather.
4. 4
   The aftershaft of a feather.
5. 5
   One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.

Synonyms

All synonyms

budburgeoncrestfeathergemmulehackle

Etymology

From Latin plūmula, diminutive of plūma (“feather”); compare French plumule.

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