noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/ˌkɒt.ɪˈliː.dən/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˌkɑt.əˈliː.dən/
rhymes with -iːdən
CMU ARPABET:K AO1 T AH0 L IY2 D AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Each of the patches of villi on the foetal chorion in the placenta of ruminants and some other mammals.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: medicine, physiology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
The leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant; after germination it becomes the first leaves of the seedling.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: seed leaf
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: seed leaf
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cataphyll
History
Etymology
From Latin cotylēdōn, from Ancient Greek κοτυληδών (kotulēdṓn, “cup-shaped cavity”), from κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup”).
Across languages
Translations
23 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Catalan:
cotilèdon
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Dutch:
zaadlob
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Finnish:
sirkkalehti
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
French:
cotylédon
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Galician:
cotiledón
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
German:
Keimblatt
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Greek:
κοτυληδόνα
(kotylidóna)
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Hawaiian:
pepeiao
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Hungarian:
sziklevél
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Icelandic:
kímblað
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Italian:
cotiledone
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Japanese:
子葉
(shiyō)
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Karakalpak:
bu'rtik
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Korean:
떡잎
(tteogip)
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Polish:
liścień
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Portuguese:
cotilédone
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Romanian:
cotiledon
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Russian:
семядо́ля
(semjadólja)
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Serbo-Croatian:
supka
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Spanish:
cotiledón
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Tagalog:
bindahon
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Thai:
ใบเลี้ยง
(bai-líiang)
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
Welsh:
had-ddeilen
— leaf of the embryo of a seed-bearing plant
