palmate
/ˈpɑmeit/ adjective, noun
Forms palmates
- adjective (chiefly botany) Having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point. “Although palmate leaves are typical of most Western maples, a number of species have leaves without lobes.”
- adjective (botany, of leaves) Having more than three leaflets arising from a common point, often in the form of a fan.
- adjective (rare) Having webbed appendage; palmated. “The Palmate Newt is a common Western European amphibian.”
- adjective (rare) Hand-like; shaped like a hand with extended fingers
- noun (chemistry) Any salt or ester of ricinoleic acid (formerly called palmic acid); a ricinoleate.
Synonyms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin palmātus (“hand-shaped, palm-leaf shaped”), from palma (“palm, palm-tree”). Equivalent to palm + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Compare French palmé.
From palmic acid + -ate (“salt or ester”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun (Chem.) A salt of palmic acid; a ricinoleate. [Obsoles.]
- adjective Having the shape of the hand; resembling a hand with the fingers spread.
- adjective Spreading from the apex of a petiole, as the divisions of a leaf, or leaflets, so as to resemble the hand with outspread fingers.
Etymology [L. palmatus marked with the palm of a hand, from palma the palm of the hand.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “palmate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details