pinnate

American  

[pin-eyt, -it] / ˈpɪn eɪt, -ɪt /

Often pinnated

adjective

Biology.

1. (of a leaf ) having leaflets or primary divisions arranged on each side of a common stalk.

   the pinnate leaves of a palm tree.

2. resembling a feather, as in construction or arrangement; having parts arranged on each side of a common axis.

   This type of sea cucumber has a mouth surrounded by up to 25 pinnate tentacles.

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pinnate British  

/ ˈpɪneɪt, ˈpɪnɪt /

adjective

1. like a feather in appearance

2. (of compound leaves) having the leaflets growing opposite each other in pairs on either side of the stem

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pinnate Scientific  

/ pĭn′āt′ /

1. Having parts or divisions arranged on each side of a common axis in the manner of a feather. Ash, hickory, and walnut trees have pinnate leaves.

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Other Word Forms

• multipinnate adjective
• pinnatedly adverb
• pinnately adverb
• pinnation noun

Etymology

Origin of pinnate

First recorded in 1695–1705, pinnate is from the Latin word pinnātus “feathered, winged.” See pinna, -ate ¹

Example Sentences

“These are all cycads,” the composer Tobias Picker said, gesturing at a low canopy of fanned-out, pinnate leaves near the entrance of the conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden.

From New York Times

The pronouncer told her it meant a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves with imbricated petals.

From New York Times

Their once-luxuriant crowns had thinned to an eerie transparency; instead of a shifting canopy of pinnate leaves, bare twigs showed stark against the sky.

From New York Times

A Victorian field guide, for example, describes Agrimonia in rather uncompromising terms: "Herbs with stipulate, pinnate, serrate leaves and terminal bracteate spine-like racemes of small yellow flowers."

From The Guardian

Seeds flat.—Thorny trees, with abruptly once or twice pinnate leaves, and inconspicuous greenish flowers in small spikes.

From Project Gutenberg