dicotyledon

[ dahy-kot-l-eed-n, dahy-kot-l- ]

/ daɪˌkɒt lˈid n, ˌdaɪ kɒt l- /

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noun Botany.

any angiospermous plant of the class (or subclass) Dicotyledoneae, producing seeds with two cotyledons and having an exogenous manner of growth.

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Compare monocotyledon.

Origin of dicotyledon

First recorded in 1720–30, dicotyledon is from the New Latin word Dicotyledones a pre-Linnean grouping of such plants. See di-¹, cotyledon

Words nearby dicotyledon

dickybird, diclinous, dicofol, Diconal, dicot, dicotyledon, dicotyledonous, dicoumarin, dicrotic, dict., dicta

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dicotyledon in a sentence

I will describe as examples the reproduction of a moss, a fern, and a dicotyledon.
Scientific American Supplement, Vol. XXI., No. 531, March 6, 1886|Various
A primrose by the river's brim a dicotyledon was to him, and it was nothing more.
Platform Monologues|T. G. Tucker

British Dictionary definitions for dicotyledon

dicotyledon

/ (daɪˌkɒtɪˈliːdən, ˌdaɪkɒt-) /

noun

any flowering plant of the class Dicotyledonae, normally having two embryonic seed leaves and leaves with netlike veins. The group includes many herbaceous plants and most families of trees and shrubs

primitive dicotyledon . any living relative of early angiosperms that branched off before the evolution of monocotyledons and eudicotyledons. The group comprises about 5 per cent of the world's plants

Often shortened to: dicot

Compare monocotyledon

Derived forms of dicotyledon

dicotyledonous, adjective

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

Scientific definitions for dicotyledon

dicotyledon

[ dī′kŏt′l-ēd′n ]

dicot

(dī′kŏt′)

An angiosperm that is not a monocotyledon, having two cotyledons in the seed. The term dicotyledon serves as a convenient label for the eudicotyledons, the magnoliids, and a varied group of other angiosperms, but it does not correspond to a single taxonomic group. Compare monocotyledon. See more at eudicotyledon leaf magnoliid.