caruncle
Americannoun
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Botany. a protuberance at or surrounding the hilum of a seed.
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Zoology. a fleshy excrescence, as on the head of a bird; a fowl's comb.
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Anatomy. a small, fleshy growth.
noun
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a fleshy outgrowth on the heads of certain birds, such as a cock's comb
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an outgrowth near the hilum on the seeds of some plants
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any small fleshy mass in or on the body, either natural or abnormal
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of caruncle
1605–15; earlier caruncula < Latin: small piece of flesh, diminutive of carō (genitive carnis ) flesh; for suffix, see carbuncle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Every portrait depicts a pale woman with a sharp nose, bow lips, slightly receding chin, and dark eyes with a pink lacrimal caruncle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
P. incarnàta, L. Glaucous; stem slender, sparingly branched; leaves minute and linear-awl-shaped; spike cylindrical; flowers flesh-color; caruncle longer than the narrow stalk of the hairy seed.—Dry soil, Penn. to Wisc.,
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 Asa Gray
The role of the caruncle in opening the shell seems to vary among different species of turtles.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
Desire to feed varied in hatchlings of the same brood and seemed not to be correlated with retraction of the yolk sac or retention of the caruncle.
From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by John M. Legler
Many of both sexes were furnished with a large, round, fleshy caruncle on the bill at the base of the forehead--this is said to be present during the breeding season only.
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