Word of the Day

Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 14, 2012
cordate \KAWR-deyt\, adjective:
 1. Heart-shaped.
2. (Of leaves) heart-shaped, with the attachment at the notched end.

Despite their strong and interlinked root structure, the actual flowers were of a lowly order, though, canted towards the sun, they attracted the cordate butterflies. -- Brian Wilson Aldiss, "Hothouse"

Without any wind blowing, the sheer weight of a raindrop, shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf, caused its tip to dip, and what looked like a globule of quicksilver performed a sudden glissando down the center vein, and then, having shed its bright load, the relieved leaf unbent. -- Vladimir Nabakov, "Speak, Memory"

Related to core, cordate comes from the Latin word for heart, cor, and the suffix -ate which forms an adjective from a noun.

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