sessile

[ ses-il, -ahyl ]

adjective

1. Botany. attached by the base, or without any distinct projecting support, as a leaf issuing directly from the stem.
2. Zoology. permanently attached; not freely moving.

sessile

/ sɛˈsɪlɪtɪ; ˈsɛsaɪl /

adjective

1. (of flowers or leaves) having no stalk; growing directly from the stem
2. (of animals such as the barnacle) permanently attached to a substratum

sessile

/ sĕs′īl′ /

1. Permanently attached or fixed and not free-moving, as corals and mussels.
2. Stalkless and attached directly at the base, as certain kinds of leaves and fruit.

Derived Forms

• sessility, noun

Other Words From

• ses·sil·i·ty [se-, sil, -i-tee], noun
• pseudo·sessile adjective
• sub·sessile adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sessile¹

1715–25; < Latin sessilis fit for sitting on, low enough to sit on, dwarfish (said of plants), equivalent to sess ( us ) (past participle of sedēre to sit ¹ ) + -ilis -ile

Word History and Origins

Origin of sessile¹

C18: from Latin sēssilis concerning sitting, from sedēre to sit

Example Sentences

Amphipods, am′fi-pods, n. an order of small sessile-eyed crustaceans—a familiar example is the sand-hopper.

From Project Gutenberg

The spores are arranged in beaded threads in sessile conceptacles on the marginal leaflets.

From Project Gutenberg

It grows to a height of eighteen inches or two feet, bearing silvery oval lanceolate leaves and sessile fruit.

From Project Gutenberg

The leaves are sessile and pinnatifid, with very narrow segments, and the white flowers grow in solitary heads.

From Project Gutenberg

The umbels are sessile or nearly so, the flowers have no calyx, and the fruit has five prominent ridges.

From Project Gutenberg