noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A tissue surrounding the seed in certain fruits such as pomegranates.
2. 2
   fleshy and usually brightly colored cover of some seeds that develops from the ovule stalk and partially or entirely envelops the seed wordnet

Etymology

1785. From New Latin arillus (compare modern French arille and the English doublet arillus), from Medieval Latin arilli.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.