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seed leaf

seed leaf

5.5
First leaf or pair of leaves inside a seed that feed the young plant
  • noun
  • /siːd liːf/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hoja embrionaria
  • During germination, the seed leaves supply nutrients to the developing plant.

Examples

  • So you have your first set of seed leaves, Those don't count.

  • And these are just two of the seed leaves and one small taproot, and they go in perfectly and they come out absolutely perfect as well.

  • The first pair of seed leaves usually emerge shortly after the seed germinates.

  • You can identify seed leaves by their broad, flat shapes compared to later leaves.

Synonyms

cotyledon
vsseed leaf
  • Specialized
1 9.6

A first leaf inside a seed that gives food to the young plant

is the common two word phrase for the same plant concept

Surface Forms

seed leaf singular
seed leaves plural

Morphology

seed + leaf

The noun meaning is directly compositional: it denotes a 'leaf' associated with or found in a 'seed', so a learner who knows 'seed' and 'leaf' can infer an embryonic leaf inside a seed. This literal, descriptive structure is cross-linguistically common and follows transparent noun + noun composition, so it should be understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Seed leaf names the small leaf inside a seed that holds food for the baby plant as it begins to grow. That's why 'seed leaf' means the first leaf or pair to appear and help the young plant get its early food.