Word To Use Today: codling or codlins.

A codling is a young cod, but I'm pleased to report that some codlings never grow up. 

This is one of them. This is a short beard codling:



I'm afraid it looks about eighty six, though, doesn't it?

A codling can also be several varieties of cooking apple:


Keswick Codling Apple from the National Fruit Collection

 or indeed any apple at all if it's unripe.

The larva of the codling moth:


photo by David Short

 feeds on the apples rather than the fish.

Codlins-and-cream sounds delicious but isn't. It's an Eurasian wild flower:



 (it's been introduced to America, too), and it's possibly toxic and may cause convulsions (though in Russia it's traditionally used to make a tea to induce semi-consciousness). Its scientifically known as Epilobium hirsutum, and also known, by those with no poetry in their souls, as hairy willowherb.

I should stick to codlings for dinner if I were you, rather than codlins. Probably with mushy peas and chips. 

And the apples with custard!

Word To Use Today: codling or codlins. Cod is basically a Germanic word. Codling, as in apple, appeared in the 1400s, no one is sure from where, as querdling.