coriaceous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of coriaceous
First recorded in 1665–75, coriaceous is from the Late Latin word coriāceus leathern. See corium, -aceous
Explanation
Coriaceous is a botanist's term for leathery in appearance, or just tough. You're not going to see it often used outside scientific contexts. To remember this word, think of corrugated which also describes a kind of surface roughness. Or think about how courageous people like sailors and mountain climbers end up with coriaceous or leathery skin. The word itself is a lesson in historical linguistics: Coriaceous is related to the Latin word corium, which entered English in the 1650s, and traces its history back to the Pan Indo European root *(s)ker-(1), which is responsible for the Sanskrit krtih "hide," and the Old English sceran "to cut, shear."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Achenes somewhat wedge-shaped, 3–4-angled; pappus a short 4-toothed crown.—Shrubby low maritime plants, coriaceous or fleshy, with opposite nearly entire leaves, and solitary peduncled terminal heads of yellow flowers; anthers blackish.
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
Pod ovoid, coriaceous, wrinkled, longer than the calyx, scarcely dehiscent, 1–2-seeded.—Annual or biennial herbs, fragrant in drying, with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, leaflets toothed.
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 ascending, with a close coriaceous coat, and some albumen.—Perennial herbs, with almost sessile 3-foliolate leaves; the thin leaflets doubly serrate and incised.
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
Involucre of about 10 outer loose foliaceous scales, more or less dilated and coriaceous at base, and several firm-coriaceous, oval or obovate, concave inner ones with short abrupt green tips.
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
Ovaries many in a simple circle on a flattened receptacle, forming flattened coriaceous achenes, which are dilated and 2–3-keeled on the back.—Roots fibrous.
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
