petiole
UK /ˈpɛti.əʊl/ · US /ˈpɛti.oʊl/ noun
Forms petioles
- noun (botany) The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.
- noun (entomology, insect anatomy) A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.
- noun (entomology) The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin pēs (“foot”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A leafstalk; the footstalk of a leaf, connecting the blade with the stem. See Illust. of Leaf.
- noun A stalk or peduncle.
Etymology [F. pétiole, fr. L. petiolus a little foot, a fruit stalk; cf. pes, pedis, a foot.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “petiole”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details