means An animal—most famously a bee, but also butterflies, moths, beetles, birds, and bats—that moves pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing plants so they can produce fruit and seed.

from From Latin pollen, meaning 'fine flour' or 'fine dust'—the same powdery word the Romans used for milled grain. English took 'pollen' in the 18th century as botanists came to understand plant reproduction, and 'pollinate' followed as the verb for spreading it; 'pollinator' is the agent noun, naming whoever does the dusty work.