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

But in the older and extinct cycad fossils, that nitrogen signature was absent.

From Science Daily • Nov. 16, 2023

Their scatology paid off: They found well-preserved pollen grains, adding to evidence that cockroaches were important pollinators of cycad trees—the ones that produced the sap that trapped this unlucky creature, a relative of today’s cockroaches.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 10, 2020

He’s been getting good results so far with artificial snakeskin for the trunk of an extinct cycad relative called Williamsonia.

From New York Times • May 8, 2018

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