dicotyledon

[ dahy-kot-l-eed-n, dahy-kot-l- ]

nounBotany.
  1. any angiospermous plant of the class (or subclass) Dicotyledoneae, producing seeds with two cotyledons and having an exogenous manner of growth.

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Origin of dicotyledon

1
First recorded in 1720–30, dicotyledon is from the New Latin word Dicotyledones a pre-Linnean grouping of such plants. See di-1, cotyledon

Words Nearby dicotyledon

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How to use dicotyledon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dicotyledon

dicotyledon

/ (daɪˌkɒtɪˈliːdən, ˌdaɪkɒt-) /


noun
  1. any flowering plant of the class Dicotyledonae, normally having two embryonic seed leaves and leaves with netlike veins. The group includes many herbaceous plants and most families of trees and shrubs

  2. primitive dicotyledon . any living relative of early angiosperms that branched off before the evolution of monocotyledons and eudicotyledons. The group comprises about 5 per cent of the world's plants

  • Often shortened to: dicot

Derived forms of dicotyledon

  • dicotyledonous, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for dicotyledon

dicotyledon

[ dī′kŏt′l-ēdn ]


  1. An angiosperm that is not a monocotyledon, having two cotyledons in the seed. The term dicotyledon serves as a convenient label for the eudicotyledons, the magnoliids, and a varied group of other angiosperms, but it does not correspond to a single taxonomic group. Compare monocotyledon. See more at eudicotyledon leaf magnoliid.

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