stamen
Americannoun
-
stamens,
plural
-
stamina
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stamen
1640–50; < Latin stāmen warp in upright loom, thread, filament, equivalent to stā ( re ) to stand + -men noun suffix; akin to Greek stḗmōn warp, Sanskrit sthāman place
Explanation
A stamen is the part of a flower that produces pollen so it can reproduce. The number of stamens in most flowers is the same as the number of petals. In many flowers, you can easily see the stamens—or more precisely, the parts of the stamen called filaments, the thin stalks in the middle of the bloom, and the anthers, the tiny pods that hold the pollen. In Latin, stamen means "foundational warp thread in weaving," and its root means "to stand, or make firm."
Vocabulary lists containing stamen
Life Science: Plants
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Plants (Botany) - Middle School
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Plants (Botany) - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
This allowed them to identify a signal emitted by the maternal tissue that attracts pollen tubes by leading them to elongate along the stamen tissue and reach the site of fertilization.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024
It takes less than three minutes for a Loasoideae stamen to travel from the outside in — nimble by plant standards.
From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2019
Each stamen consists of a stalk called a filament with an anther at its tip.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018
Her ivory neck and face rises like a stamen from her red satin dress, perhaps evoking the Florentine fleur-de-lis.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 22, 2010
I gently pull the stamen through the blossom and set the drop of nectar on my tongue.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Inside the egg, a surprise awaits: a bouquet of flowers made of white quartz wood anemones, each flower with gold wire stem and stamens.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
The hairy flower has a clear, glossy bottom and a yellow-orange tube that contains its stamens.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 4, 2023
Instead, the rodents brush against the scores of scarlet stamens, which carry the pollen that could then cling to the their fur coats until being transferred to another feijoa tree.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
Later in spring, bloom continues more demurely, when Magnolia wilsonii and M. sieboldii, a couple of Larson’s favorite species, produce fragrant, nodding white flowers with pink to crimson stamens.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2022
Ms. Keen has spent a week teaching us the finer points of stamens and pistils, seedpods and flowers.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
They’re in it for the long haul—there is a sense of orderliness, of anger and energy being spent judiciously to preserve stamina.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
These fibers consume large amounts of oxygen and are associated with improved stamina and athletic performance.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
Historically regarded as a summer stamina booster -- particularly among older and rural people -- dog meat has steadily fallen out of favour as younger Koreans embrace dogs as pets and public attitudes shift.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Let’s have a mascot with character, stamina and initiative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
She was older than many of the space pilgrims, some of whom were just out of college, but she matched them at every turn for enthusiasm and work stamina.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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.
