Standard Lemma guide

phloem

noun · 2 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfləʊ.əm/
  • Received-Pronunciation:
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: flōʹəm
  • General-American: /ˈfloʊ.əm/
  • General-American:
  • rhymes with -əʊəm
  • rhymes with -əʊɛm

1

noun

Meaning 1

A vascular tissue in land plants primarily responsible for the distribution of sugars and nutrients manufactured in the shoot.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

(botany) tissue that conducts synthesized food substances (e.g., from leaves) to parts where needed; consists primarily of sieve tubes

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bast

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: vascular tissue

History

Etymology

First attested in 1872. From German Phloëm, coined by Swiss botanist Carl Nägeli in 1858 from Ancient Greek φλόος (phlóos, “husk, bark”) + a Greek-sounding ending -em (cf. System).

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: флоем (floem) — vascular tissue
  • Bulgarian: лико (liko) — vascular tissue
  • Catalan: floema — vascular tissue
  • Chinese Mandarin: 韌皮部 /韧皮部 (rènpíbù) — vascular tissue
  • Czech: lýko — vascular tissue
  • Dutch: floëem — vascular tissue
  • Esperanto: floemo — vascular tissue
  • Finnish: nila — vascular tissue
  • French: phloème — vascular tissue
  • Georgian: ლაფანი (lapani) — vascular tissue
  • German: Phloem — vascular tissue
  • Hungarian: háncsrész — vascular tissue
  • Italian: floema — vascular tissue
  • Japanese: 師部 (shibu) — vascular tissue
  • Malay: floem — vascular tissue
  • Māori: tarikai — vascular tissue
  • Occitan: floèma — vascular tissue
  • Persian: آوند آبکش (âvand-e âbkeš) — vascular tissue
  • Polish: łyko — vascular tissue
  • Polish: floem — vascular tissue
  • Portuguese: floema — vascular tissue
  • Russian: флоэ́ма (floéma) — vascular tissue
  • Russian: луб (lub) — vascular tissue
  • Russian: лы́ко (lýko) — vascular tissue
  • Spanish: floema — vascular tissue
  • Tagalog: paniyandaluyan — vascular tissue
  • Telugu: పోషక కణజాలము (pōṣaka kaṇajālamu) — vascular tissue
  • Thai: โฟลเอ็ม (floo-êm) — vascular tissue