Kerne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The innermost portion of a seed or grain serves as the essential element, often found within a protective layer, and constitutes the fundamental basis of a larger entity
2. A small edible substance found within an encasing shell represents the core part of various seeds or grains, acting as the central and vital component for growth
3. The basic edible section inside a seed or grain that serves as nourishment

Etymology: The word "kerne" is simply an alternative spelling of "kern", and the spelling carries the clue to its ancestry. Kern traces back to Middle English "curn" and "cooren", variant forms of "corn", the same word that gave English its general sense of a grain. In the sense of a seed's inner core, it shares roots with a family of Germanic words that all mean "core" or "kernel": Dutch "kern", German "Kern", Swedish "kärna", and Old Norse "kjarni". The same spelling is also used for an unrelated and older word. In Middle English, "kerne" referred to a light-armed Irish foot soldier, borrowed from Middle Irish "ceithern". Its source is a name for a company of four, so the soldier's name and the Irish word for a quartet are the same word, now a doublet of "quaternion".