Obovate

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Possessing a configuration that is wider at the top and gradually narrows toward the bottom describes a shape commonly attributed to certain leaves and fruits
2. Exhibiting an outline that is rounded at the top and slender at the bottom, often used in botanical contexts for various plant structures
3. Having a form that is wider near the tip and tapers toward the base, often describing leaves and petals

Etymology: "Obovate" is a plain technical compound, built from the Latin prefix "ob-", meaning "inverse" or "reversed," attached to "ovate," the adjective for something egg-shaped. The image is simple: a regular egg shape turned the other way round, broad at the tip and tapering toward the stalk. Botanists use it to describe leaves and fruits, where the widest part sits in the upper half and the base narrows gradually. The contrast with "ovate" is the whole point. An ovate leaf is broadest near its base and narrows toward its tip, like a hen's egg with the fat end down. Reversing the orientation gives the obovate form, which is why the two terms are always used as a pair in plant descriptions. The prefix "ob-" appears in other Latin-derived English words with a similar sense of reversal or opposition, though "obovate" itself is a specialist coinage rather than an everyday word.

Synonyms: oval, elliptical