taste bud

American  

noun

taste buds plural

1. one of numerous small, flask-shaped bodies, chiefly in the epithelium of the tongue, which are the end organs for the sense of taste.

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taste bud British  

noun

1. any of the elevated oval-shaped sensory end organs on the surface of the tongue, by means of which the sensation of taste is experienced

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taste bud Scientific  

/ tāst /

1. Any of numerous sense organs in most vertebrate animals that are specialized to detect taste. Taste buds are sensitive to four types of taste: sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. In land vertebrates, the taste buds are found on the surface of the tongue. Fish have taste buds all over their bodies.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• taste buds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of taste bud

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

taste bud

"This is just the beginning of research to create climate resilient fruit and create a fruit that is acceptable to the Indian taste bud."

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2025

You probably saw a diagram of those taste bud arrangements once in a biology textbook — sweet sensors at the tip, salty on either side, sour behind them, bitter in the back.

From New York Times ● May 29, 2024

Taste bud cells from wildtype mice showed a sharp increase in action potentials after ammonium chloride was added while taste bud cells from the mice lacking OTOP1 failed to respond to the salt.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2023

There are plenty of options for every taste bud.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2023

We've all hit the wall of Thanksgiving leftovers: the flavors of sage, rosemary, and turkey gravy infiltrating every taste bud, the thought of cold, dry turkey haunting your dreams.

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2021