granule

American  

[gran-yool] / ˈgræn yul /

noun

1. a little grain.

2. a small particle; pellet.

3. a corpuscle; sporule.

---

granule British  

/ ˈɡrænjuːl /

noun

1. a small grain

2. geology a single rock fragment in gravel, smaller than a pebble but larger than a sand grain

3. astronomy another name for granulation

---

granule Scientific  

/ grăn′yo̅o̅l /

1. A rock or mineral fragment larger than a sand grain and smaller than a pebble. Granules have a diameter between 2 and 4 mm (0.08 and 0.16 in) and are often rounded.

2. Any of the small, transient convective cells within the Sun's photosphere where hot gases rise and quickly dissipate. Granules are generally between a few hundred and 1,500 km in width. They completely cover the Sun's surface, giving it its characteristic grainy or stippled look, and form and break up within a matter of minutes.

3. An aggregate of enclosed grainy matter found in a cell. Granulocytes, mast cells and other cells contain granules in their cytoplasm, which differ in size and can often be identified by a characteristic laboratory stain based on their composition. Granules produce and store biologically active substances, the release of which is called degranulation. The granules of granulocytes contain mostly multiple enzymes and other proteins; those of mast cells contain histamine and other chemical mediators.

---

Etymology

Origin of granule

First recorded in 1645–55, granule is from the Late Latin word grānulum small grain. See grain, -ule

Explanation

A teeny, tiny particle of something is a granule. If ants love to invade your kitchen, you'll need to carefully clean up every last granule of the sugar you spilled on the floor. In geology, a granule is actually a specific, measurable amount. It's between two and four millimeters — larger than a grain of sand, but smaller than a pebble. In everyday use, a granule is just a very small piece of something. If your little brother is especially sensitive, he may insist on periodically stopping during a hike to empty granules of gravel out of his sneakers. Granule comes from the Late Latin granulum, "small grain."

Example Sentences

They chemically stimulated the granule cells in mouse brain tissue samples to activate the process of memory formation.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2024

Helles then uses a shredding machine to turn them into small pieces of rubber granule infill that are used sometimes in building projects, in agriculture to make artificial soil and also for artificial turf.

From Reuters • Jul. 17, 2023

For example, any crystal, whether a granule of table salt or a diamond necklace, is just a bunch of atoms arranged in a repeating pattern.

From Scientific American • Mar. 9, 2022

Just as Colin can’t put a finger on a pulsating white granule that vibrates in front of him, the viewer may go fuzzy trying to figure out where the director is coming from.

From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2020

The women lined their eyes with dark kohl; some painted their lips and nails, and all of them wore black dresses colorfully embroidered with endless stitches, each the size of a sugar granule.

From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat

Related Words

• cereal
• corn