Meaning

noun American plants closely resembling Old World mistletoe

noun Old World parasitic shrub having branching greenish stems with leathery leaves and waxy white glutinous berries; the traditional mistletoe of Christmas

noun shrub of central and southeastern Europe; partially parasitic on beeches, chestnuts and oaks

originFrom Middle English mistelto, mistilto (“European mistletoe”), from Old English misteltān (“mistletoe”), from mistel (“mistletoe; basil; birdlime”) + tān (“sprig, shoot, twig”), possibly as a calque of Old Norse mistilteinn; equivalent to mistle + tan (“twig”). This was mistaken for the plural of tā (“toe”). Cognate with Danish mistelten (“mistletoe”), Norwegian misteltein (“mistletoe”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0