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 • May 25, 2022

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

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2021

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 • May 31, 2012

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

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

Seeds subglobose.—Shrubby or ours an herbaceous perennial, the leaves pinnate with numerous leaflets, and flowers white or yellow in terminal racemes.

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