cycad

American  

[sahy-kad] / ˈsaɪ kæd /

noun

1. any gymnospermous plant of the order Cycadales, intermediate in appearance between ferns and the palms, many species having a thick, unbranched, columnar trunk bearing a crown of large, leathery, pinnate leaves.

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cycad British  

/ ˈsaɪkæd /

noun

1. any tropical or subtropical gymnosperm plant of the phylum Cycadophyta , having an unbranched stem with fernlike leaves crowded at the top See also sago palm

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cycad Scientific  

/ sī′kăd′ /

1. Any of various evergreen plants that live in tropical and subtropical regions, have large feathery leaves, and resemble palm trees in that most leaves cluster around the top of the stem. Cycads are gymnosperms that bear conelike reproductive structures at the top of the stem, with male and female cones borne on different plants. Cycads were common in many parts of the Earth during the Jurassic Period and survive today in about 250 species. Sago palms are cycads.

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Other Word Forms

• cycadaceous adjective
• cycadlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of cycad

1835–45; < New Latin Cycad- (stem of Cycas ) genus name < Greek kýkas, misspelling of kóïkas, accusative plural of kóïx kind of palm

Example Sentences

He's standing next to one of Kew's most precious specimens: a plant called Encephalartos altensteinii, which is a type of cycad.

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

A new study appearing Nov. 16 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution has concluded that the cycad species that survived relied on symbiotic bacteria in their roots, which provide them with nitrogen to grow.

From Science Daily • Nov. 16, 2023

However, the genomes of the ferns and cycad contain a surprising number of genes from bacteria and fungi.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 22, 2022

“It’s appropriate,” Picker said, “that Oliver Sacks would have an aria about a cycad — the only aria ever written about a cycad.”

From New York Times • May 25, 2022

Techniques were developed in eastern Australia for rendering abundant and starchy, but extremely poisonous, cycad seeds edible, by leaching out or fermenting the poison.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond