canescent

[ kuh-nes-uhnt ]

adjective

1. covered with whitish or grayish pubescence, as certain plants.

canescent

/ kəˈnɛsənt /

adjective

1. biology white or greyish due to the presence of numerous short white hairs
2. becoming hoary, white, or greyish

Derived Forms

• caˈnescence, noun

Other Words From

• ca·nescence noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of canescent¹

1840–50; < Latin cānēscent- stem of cānēscēns, present participle of cānēscere to grow gray, equivalent to cān ( us ) gray + -ēscent- -escent

Word History and Origins

Origin of canescent¹

C19: from Latin cānescere to grow white, become hoary, from cānēre to be white

Example Sentences

Stouter and more rigid, leaves of radical shoots thicker, linear, hoary, the cauline puberulent or glabrous, calyx canescent.

From Project Gutenberg

Indeed, after the canescent heat of the day, and the tossing of our ill-conditioned vessel, we should have been contented with lodgings far less luxurious.

From Project Gutenberg

Pod 1–several-seeded, septate within between the seeds.—Herbs or shrubs, mostly canescent with appressed hairs fixed by the middle, with odd-pinnate faintly-nerved leaves, and pink or purplish flowers in naked axillary spikes.

From Project Gutenberg

Low, hirsute and hispid, not canescent; heads small.

From Project Gutenberg