cotyledon
Americannoun
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the primary or rudimentary leaf of the embryo of seed plants.
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Anatomy. any of several lobules of the placenta.
noun
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a simple embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, which, in some species, forms the first green leaf after germination
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a tuft of villi on the mammalian placenta
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A leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant. Most cotyledons emerge, enlarge, and become green after the seed has germinated. Cotyledons either store food for the growing embryo (as in monocotyledons) or absorb food that has been stored in the endosperm (as in other angiosperms) for eventual distribution to the growing parts of the embryo.
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Also called seed leaf
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See more at eudicotyledon monocotyledon
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of cotyledon
1535–45; < Latin: navelwort < Greek kotylēdṓn a plant (probably navelwort), literally, a cuplike hollow, derivative of kotýlē cup
Vocabulary lists containing cotyledon
Plants (Botany) - Middle School
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Plants (Botany) - High School
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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.
Cotyledon, a widely distributed genus with about 90 species, is represented in the British Isles by C. Umbilicus, pennywort, or navelwort, which takes its name from the succulent peltate leaves.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various
Cotyledon umbilicus: circumnutation and downward movement of another stolon, traced on vertical glass, from 9.11 A.M.
From The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin, Charles
Then she led him to the back of the house and talked the incident out of his mind as cleverly as possible by giving him an intensive botanical study of Cotyledon.
From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene
The leaf is almost round, green on the upper side and whitish underneath, with several fibres running from the insertion of the pedicule towards the circumference, it is umbilicated as Cotyledon aquatica and Faba Aegyptia.
From A Voyage to New Holland by Dampier, William
California is full of girls; but this is the finest Cotyledon of this family I have ever seen.
From Her Father's Daughter by Stratton-Porter, Gene
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
