Relating to or characteristic of cotyledons, the seed leaves that emerge when a plant germinates.
From cotyledon (seed leaf) + -al. Cotyledon comes from Greek kotyle (cup) + donis (giving), meaning 'cup-shaped part that gives seeds'—reflecting how seed leaves look cup-shaped.
Cotyledon literally means 'cup-giver' in ancient Greek, and when you look at a germinating seed, you see why—the seed leaves are cuplike structures that cradle the growing embryo, so the name makes perfect visual sense.
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