Today's Word "Pullulate"
Published in Vocabulary
pullulate \PEH-lyeh-leyt\ (verb) - 1 : To sprout many buds, as deciduous trees and shrubs pullulate in the spring; 2 : to reproduce in numbers, to teem (with).
"Sydney has reached that dangerous stage in her development when her opinions are just beginning to pullulate."
Today's word comes from the Latin verb "pullulare" (past participle, "pullulatus"), from pullulus "very young," diminutive of pullus "young, young bird." If you are thinking "pullet," you are absolutely correctthat word comes from the same Latin root. But the original root was pau- "little, few," which also occurs in Latin paucus "small, few," pauper "poor," and the name "Paul" (from "Paullus"). In English and other Germanic languages the Proto-Indo-European [p] became [f], so we are not surprised that English has a word "few."
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