Millet definition

mĭlĭt
Any of several other similar grasses or their seed, as foxtail millet and pearl millet.
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A cereal grass (Panicum miliaceum) whose small grain is used for food in Europe and Asia.
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The grain.
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Any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food, widely cultivated in the developing world.
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(historical) A semi-autonomous confessional community under the Ottoman Empire, especially a non-Muslim one.
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pronoun
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A town in Alberta, Canada.
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Any of various annual grasses with small grains that are harvested for food, livestock feed, and birdseed, especially proso millet.
noun
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The grains of any of these plants.
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(person) 1814-75; Fr. painter.
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Any of various annual grasses with small grains that are harvested for food, livestock feed, and birdseed, especially proso millet.
noun
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2
The grains of any of these plants.
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A demographic group in the Ottoman Empire, defined in terms of religious affiliation and enjoying a degree of legal autonomy.
noun
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2

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
millet
Plural:
millets

Origin of millet

  • Turkish from Arabic milla (bound form millatu) religion, religious community from Syriac milləṯā word, creed Phoenician ml word

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English milet from Old French diminutive of mil millet from Latin milium melə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English milet from Old French diminutive of mil millet from Latin milium melə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From French millet; ultimately from Latin milium, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₁- (“to grind, crush"), see also Ancient Greek μελίνη (melinÄ“, “millet") and Lithuanian málnos (“millet").

    From Wiktionary

  • From Turkish millet, from Ottoman Turkish ملت (millet), from Arabic ملة (milla(t)).

    From Wiktionary

Millet Sentence Examples

  • The plain produces wheat, barley, millet and vegetables.

  • The principal crops are wheat, pulse, maize, millet, with some cotton and sugar-cane.

  • Of species belonging to allied genera, Pennisetum typhoideum, bajree, sometimes also called Egyptian millet or pearl millet, is largely cultivated in tropical Asia, Nubia and Egypt.

  • In good seasons it is sufficient for the cultivation of the summer crop of millet, and for the supply of the perennial streams and springs, on which the irrigation of the winter crops of wheat and barley depend.

  • The word as spelled represents the pronunciation of the Cape Dutch milje, an adaptation of milho (da India), the millet of India, the Portuguese name for millet, used in South Africa for maize.

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Words near millet in the Dictionary