growth ring

American  

noun

1. annual ring.

---

growth ring British  

noun

1. another name for annual ring

---

growth ring Scientific  

1. A layer of wood formed in a plant during a single period of growth. Growth rings are visible as concentric circles of varying width when a tree is cut crosswise. They represent layers of cells produced by vascular cambium.

2. ◆ Most growth rings reflect a full year's growth and are called annual rings. But abrupt changes in the environment, especially in the availability of water, can cause a plant to produce more than one growth ring in a year.

3. See more at dendrochronology

4. A similar layer in a part of an animal marking a period of growth, such as an annulus in a fish scale.

---

Etymology

Origin of growth ring

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

As a result, a wooden object can be dated by comparing the annual growth ring widths with already existing standard or regional chronologies.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2024

These spikes can be accurately dated on the basis of long tree-ring chronologies, and because they are global events, they are important anchor points, especially in regions without consistent annual growth ring chronologies.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2024

But sometimes nature throws a wrench into the works, and a tree will form more than one growth ring in a year.

From Science Magazine • Dec. 17, 2021

The study, published in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, looked at an extinct rudist clam and found that it had a growth ring on its shell for every day of the nine years it was alive.

From Fox News • Mar. 12, 2020

In diffuse-porous woods the pores are scattered throughout the growth ring instead of being collected in a band or row.

From The Mechanical Properties of Wood Including a Discussion of the Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties, and Methods of Timber Testing by Record, Samuel J.