What does blowball mean?
A blowball is the familiar round, white, downy seed head that forms on a dandelion after its yellow flower has faded. Each blowball consists of dozens of tiny seeds, each attached to a feathery parachute called a pappus, all clustered atop a hollow stem. When a puff of air strikes it, the seeds detach and drift away, which is how the plant spreads — and why children have long delighted in blowing on a blowball while making a wish. The word is used chiefly in informal and literary English, particularly in children's books and nature writing, and carries warm, nostalgic connotations of childhood and open fields. It is sometimes confused with "dandelion" itself, though the term properly applies only to the seed-bearing stage rather than the whole plant or its bright yellow blossom.
nounThe round, downy seed head of a dandelion, consisting of numerous plumed seeds attached to a hollow stem, which children traditionally blow upon to scatter the seeds.
- The spherical, fluffy seed head of a dandelion, whose plumed seeds are dispersed when blown.
"The child picked a ripe blowball from the lawn and blew its seeds into the summer air."
"She handed her daughter the blowball and watched the wind carry the seeds across the meadow."
"In his painting of the garden, a single blowball stood out against the dark green grass."
Standard regular plural; used when referring to multiple dandelion seed heads.
"By late spring, the unmowed lawn was full of blowballs."
Every wish ever made on one was actually an act of gardening — blowing apart a blowball is how dandelions get you to plant them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of blowball
Blowball is a transparent English compound formed from the verb "blow" (from Middle English blowen, of Germanic origin) and "ball" (from Old Norse bǫllr, also Germanic), first recorded around the early seventeenth century. The compound arose simply as a descriptive name for the dandelion's seed head, which scatters at a breath. It shares its component roots with everyday Germanic words such as "blow"-derived terms and "bowl" and other ball-family words.
How blowball is actually used
The word has a gentle, somewhat old-fashioned or dialectal flavor and appears most often in children's literature, nature writing, and informal contexts. It always refers to the post-flowering seed stage of the dandelion, never the yellow bloom.
Easily confused with blowball
"Dandelion" refers to the whole plant with its yellow flower, while "blowball" refers specifically to the white, fluffy seed head that forms after the flower has gone to seed.
A "puffball" is a type of round fungus that releases spores in a puff when disturbed, whereas a "blowball" is the seed head of a dandelion.