radicle
(ˈrædɪk(ə)l)
[ad. L. rādīcula radicule; cf. follicle, ventricle, etc.]
1. Bot. a. That part of the embryo of a plant which develops into the primary root.
| 1671 Phil. Trans. VI. 3037 The one is called by him [Grew] the Radicle, being that, which, upon the vegetation of the Seed, becomes the Root [= 1672 Grew Anat. Veget. 7]. 1707 Curiosities in Husb. & Gard. 31 The..lowermost part is called Radicle; because 'tis the Origin of the Root... The Radicle is likewise called the seminal Root. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., When in sowing, the radicle happens to light lowest, it is no wonder the root should spread itself under ground. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. ii. (1813) 15 The substance of seeds appears to be spent first in feeding the radicle. 1880 C. & F. Darwin Movem. Pl. 5 The radicle can be distinguished from the hypocotyl only by the presence of root-hairs and the nature of its covering. |
b. A rootlet.
| 1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Naturalist 122 The radicles penetrate like the finest hairs into the substance. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 10 Using the long radicles of a spongy moss for wick. |
2. Anat. One of the branching subdivisions of veins, nerves, etc. resembling a part of a root.
| 1830 R. Knox Béclard's Anat. 182 A doubling of a minute artery which becomes a venous radicle. 1880 Bastian Brain 44 The radicles of a much branched nerve process. |
3. Chem. = radical n. 4.
Radicle has been preferred to radical by some authorities, and was the form formerly employed in the Journal of the Chemical Society, but its introduction appears to have been due to a misunderstanding (see quot. 1862).
| 1862 W. Miller Elem. Chem. III. 36 Liebig..defined organic chemistry to be the chemistry of compound radicles. [Ibid. note, The German term radikal is commonly, but inaccurately translated radical, which is properly an adjective, the word radicle being the appropriate rendering.] 1880 Friswell in Soc. of Arts 444 The iodides of the alcoholic radicles, methyl and ethyl. |
4. Philol. (See quot.)
| 1870 F. A. March Anglo-Saxon Gram. 33 Radicles are elementary relational parts of words. They are generally single sounds—oftenest a consonant sound. |