caryopsis

[kar-ee-op-sis]

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noun, plural car·y·op·ses [kar-ee-op-seez] /ˌkær iˈɒp siz/ car·y·op·si·des [kar-ee-op-si-deez] /ˌkær iˈɒp sɪˌdiz/. Botany.

a small, one-celled, one-seeded, dry indehiscent fruit with the pericarp adherent to the seed coat, the typical fruit of grasses and grains.

RELATED WORDS

kernel, stone, achene, utricle

Origin of caryopsis

First recorded in 1820–30; cary(o)- + -opsis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for caryopsis

Historical Examples of caryopsis

Caryopsis grooved, blunt and more tightly held in the palea.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
The caryopsis is very narrow, and the rachilla long and feathered with hairs.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
The caryopsis is shorter and more ovoid than in other Bromes.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
In Lolium and Agropyrum the caryopsis is still more wheat-like and grooved.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward
Caryopsis 7-8 mm., less flattened than in Bromus, with a shallow groove.
Grasses
H. Marshall Ward

British Dictionary definitions for caryopsis

caryopsis

noun plural -ses (-siːz) or -sides (-sɪˌdiːz)

a dry seedlike fruit having the pericarp fused to the seed coat of the single seed: produced by the grasses

Word Origin for caryopsis

C19: New Latin; see karyo-, -opsis

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Science definitions for caryopsis

caryopsis

[kăr′ē-ŏp′sĭs]

Plural caryopses (kăr′ē-ŏp′sēz′) caryopsides (kăr′ē-ŏp′sĭ-dēz′)

A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united. Also called grain