caruncle

American  

[kar-uhng-kuhl, kuh-ruhng-] / ˈkær ʌŋ kəl, kəˈrʌŋ- /

noun

1. Botany. a protuberance at or surrounding the hilum of a seed.

2. Zoology. a fleshy excrescence, as on the head of a bird; a fowl's comb.

3. Anatomy. a small, fleshy growth.

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caruncle British  

/ kəˈrʌŋ-, -ˌleɪt, kəˈrʌŋkjʊlɪt, kəˈrʌŋkjʊlə, ˈkærəŋkəl /

noun

1. a fleshy outgrowth on the heads of certain birds, such as a cock's comb

2. an outgrowth near the hilum on the seeds of some plants

3. any small fleshy mass in or on the body, either natural or abnormal

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Other Word Forms

• caruncular adjective
• carunculate adjective
• carunculous adjective

Etymology

Origin of caruncle

1605–15; earlier caruncula < Latin: small piece of flesh, diminutive of carō (genitive carnis ) flesh; for suffix, carbuncle

Example Sentences

Seed of Ricinus or Castor oil plant, with caruncle.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

Therefore in the middle of October the internal rectus of the right eye was divided, and the conjunctiva loosened as far as the caruncle.

From Schweigger on Squint A Monograph by Dr. C. Schweigger by Schweigger, C.

P. incarnàta, L. Glaucous; stem slender, sparingly branched; leaves minute and linear-awl-shaped; spike cylindrical; flowers flesh-color; caruncle longer than the narrow stalk of the hairy seed.—Dry soil, Penn. to Wisc.,

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Gray, Asa

In one of the rails, Gallicrex cristatus, a large red caruncle is developed during this period on the head of the male.

From The Descent of Man by Darwin, Charles

Desire to feed varied in hatchlings of the same brood and seemed not to be correlated with retraction of the yolk sac or retention of the caruncle.

From Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz by Legler, John M.

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