Standard Lemma guide

testa

name · noun · 4 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

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  • /ˈtɛstə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛstə
  • CMU ARPABET: T EH1 S T AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A surname from Italian.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A seed coat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

Examples

  • The testa develops from the tissue, the integument, originally surrounding the ovule.
  • 1969, C. W. Bennett, Seed Transmission of Plant Viruses, Alison Smith, Advances in Virus Research, Volume 14, page 224, In tests with the Lincoln and Virginia varieties of cowpea, Crowley (1959) found that, in plants infected with bean southern mosaic virus before blossoming, the virus was present in nearly 100% of the testae and endosperms of seeds of both varieties, but could not be detected in the embryos.
  • 2005, D. W. Dickson, D. De Waele, Nematode Parasites of Peanut, Michel Luc, Richard A. Sikora, John Bridge, Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture, page 419, A. arachidis is a parasite of pods, testae, roots and hypocotyls, but not the cotyledons, embryos or other parts of the plant (Bos, 1977a; Bridge et al., 1977).

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm; the test.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: marine biology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

protective outer layer of seeds of flowering plants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: episperm, seed coat

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: reproductive structure

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian Testa.

Borrowed from Latin testa.