frond

American  

[frond] / frɒnd /

noun

Botany.

1. an often large, finely divided leaf, especially as applied to the ferns and certain palms.

2. a leaflike expansion not differentiated into stem and foliage, as in lichens.

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frond British  

/ frɒnd /

noun

1. a large compound leaf, esp of a fern

2. the thallus of a seaweed or a lichen

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frond Scientific  

/ frŏnd /

1. A leaf of a fern or cycad, usually consisting of multiple leaflets.

2. A large, fanlike leaf of a palm tree.

3. A leaflike structure such as the thallus of a lichen or a seaweed.

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Other Word Forms

• fronded
  adjective
• frondless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of frond

1745–55; < Latin frond- (stem of frōns ) branch, bough, foliage

Explanation

A compound leaf — that is, a leaf with many fine and deep divisions — is a frond, such as on ferns and palm trees. Although commonly referring to the leafy part of a fern or palm, the noun frond can also refer to anything that has a similar shape to a palm frond or fern frond. If your bedhead is really bad, people may joke about your combing your fronds. In parts of the United States and Canada, you may eat the fronds of fiddlehead ferns, which are cooked and served as a vegetable.

Example Sentences

He released a solo album, “A Journal of the Plague Year,” two years later, recording with the psychedelic-folk duo Damon & Naomi and the Bevis Frond, a British rock group.

From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2018

He spent the early-morning hours in his bedroom tearing down homemade Bevis Frond posters and a paper chain he’d fashioned from gum wrappers.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 22, 2010

The early botanists thought this such a peculiarity that they always called a Fern-leaf a Frond, and its petiole a Stipe.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

Frond wholly divided into narrow ligulate, dichotomous, bi or multiserial branches; no vibracula.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

Frond 7–11-nerved or more; rootlets several, with axile vascular tissue.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

Related Words

• needle
• petal
• stalk