Hastate

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the form of a spearhead, with two triangular lobes projecting outward at the base of the blade
2. Describing a leaf or organ shaped like a halberd blade, broad at the base and flaring into pointed side lobes
3. Shaped like an arrowhead or spear point, with barb-like basal projections extending sideways from the stem

Etymology: The Latin "hasta" meant "spear," and it is the root of this word. Romans used the term "hastatus" for a soldier armed with a spear, and in the Roman legion the hastati were the front-line troops, the youngest men of the battle line. The adjective was formed by adding the suffix "-atus," which turns a noun into a description of something provided with or shaped like that noun, so "hastatus" meant "armed with a spear." English borrowed the form directly from Latin, and it came into use in the Middle English period. Its later sense, "shaped like a spear head," is the one botanists and zoologists adopted, describing leaves and other structures with a triangular blade that has two flared lobes at the base, like the point of a spear.