caruncle

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun an outgrowth on a plant or animal such as a fowl's wattle or a protuberance near the hilum of certain seeds

Borrowed from Middle French caruncule, from Latin caruncula (“a little piece of flesh”), diminutive of carō (“flesh”). Doublet of caruncula.

Note.--Outer angles of eyes visibly elevated; deep-set; eyeball thick; covers the caruncle; outer angle slightly compressed and pointed. — The North-West Amazons: Notes of some months spent among cannibal tribes, Thomas Whiffen
Towards the end of the summer, the poultry-yard was possessed of a couple of fine bustards, which belonged to the houbara species, characterized by a sort of feathery mantle; a dozen shovelers, whose upper mandible was prolonged on each side by a membraneous appendage; and also some magnificent cocks, similar to the Mozambique cocks, the comb, caruncle, and epidermis being black. — The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

caruncula

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