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Glite Dictionary
🦴 A bone bump 🦠 A disease nodule 🌱 A plant bump
tubercle

tubercle

1 9.0
A small rounded bump on a plant stem or root
  • noun
  • /ˈtjuːbərkəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tubérculo
  • The plant's roots had numerous small tubercles that indicated its health and ability to absorb nutrients.

Examples

  • She noticed tubercles forming on the stems of the plant, which were a sign of its vigorous growth.

  • The spider monkey's thumbs are absent or reduced to a tiny tubercle.

    Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)

  • On each side of a row of tubercles.

    Blog text (30)

  • They had tubercles coming off of them, and looked very strange and wonderful.

    Blog text (3)

  • WT zebrafish males exhibited normal secondary sex characteristics, including a slender body, darker yellow pigmentation, and the presence of breeding tubercles (Dranow et al. 2013).

    Academic text (2017)

  • During the breeding season, the fish's head was covered in tubercles that helped attract mates.

Synonyms

knob
vstubercle
7 2.3

A small rounded lump on something like a tree branch or bone

is smaller and wartlike and specific to plant roots and stems
nodule
vstubercle
6 7.0

A small round lump on a plant or inside the body

is a wartlike small protuberance found on plant roots or stems

Compounds

Montgomery's tubercle
  • Specialized
9.9

A small bump on the dark area around the nipple that makes oil to help breastfeeding

tubercle bacillus
  • Archaic
7.9

A type of germ that causes tuberculosis in people and animals

Surface Forms

tubercle singular
tubercles plural

Etymology

Tubercle comes from the Latin tuber meaning 'lump', the same root you see in the plant word tuber (like a potato). So a plant tubercle is simply a small rounded bump on a root or stem.