bract

English

Alternative forms

• bracte, bractea

Etymology

From Latin bractea (“a thin plate of metal; gold leaf”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

bract (plural bracts)

2. (botany) A leaf or leaf-like structure from the axil out of which a stalk of a flower or an inflorescence arises.
   • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 9:

     In this vegetable monster the bractes, or divisions of the spike, become wonderfully enlarged; and are converted into leaves.

   • 1793, Thomas Martyn, The Language of Botany:

     A Verticil or Whirl may be […] Naked; that is without involucre, bracte or brittle. Bracted - or Involucred

   • 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 31:

     Great dense patches of them grew, four and five and six feet deep, impenetrable swathes of dark green bracts that advertised their danger.

Derived terms

• bracteal
• bracted
• bractiform
• bractless
• bractlet

 

Translations

leaf or leaf-like structure

• Catalan: bràctea f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 苞片 (zh) (bāopiàn)

• Czech: listen (cs) m
• Dutch: schutblad (nl) n
• Esperanto: brakteo
• Finnish: suojuslehti
• French: bractée (fr) f
• Galician: bráctea (gl)
• German: Tragblatt (de) n
• Greek: βράκτιο (el) n (vráktio)
• Hungarian: murva (hu), murvalevél (hu), fellevél (hu), előlevél
• Italian: brattea f
• Japanese: 苞 (ja) (ほう, hō), 苞葉 (ja) (ほうよう, hōyō)
• Macedonian: прицветник m (pricvetnik), плодна лушпа f (plodna lušpa) (conifers)
• Maori: emiemi
• Polish: przykwiatek m
• Portuguese: bráctea f
• Romanian: bractee (ro) f
• Russian: прицве́тник (ru) m (pricvétnik)
• Spanish: bráctea (es) f