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You're likely to come across lanuginous in only a few contexts, botany and spelling bees being the best candidates. In other contexts, the more common term is downy . Lanuginous has an unsurprising pedigree. It's from the Latin word lanuginosus, which is in turn from lanugo, the Latin word for "down." ( Lanugo is also an English word used especially to refer to the soft woolly hair that covers the fetus of some mammals.) Lanugo itself is from lana, meaning "wool," a root also at work in lanolin , the term for wool grease that's refined for use in ointments and cosmetics.

: covered with down or fine soft hair

Examples

At the base of the mullein's tall spire is a cluster of large lanuginous leaves.

The scent [of erica, South African heather] is subtle, woody, coniferous—it smells of hot origins. And it's ridiculously tactile: I have to keep prodding the lanuginous bobbles. — Helen Brown, The Independent (UK), 23 Nov. 2006