Pennated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Exhibiting a structural design that mimics the shape of feathers
2. Having a form or structure arranged like the barbs of a feather
3. Displaying parts organized in a pattern similar to the vanes extending from a feather's shaft

Etymology: "Pennate" comes from Latin "pennatus," meaning "feathered" or "winged," built from "penna," a feather. Botanists and zoologists adopted the form to describe structures that look like a feather, such as leaves whose leaflets sit in two rows along a central stalk. The adjective "pennated" is simply "pennate" with the English "-ed" ending, which turns the description into a quality something can have. The word is most often used in anatomy and biology. A pennate muscle, for example, has its fibres arranged at an angle to the tendon, much as the vanes of a feather attach to its shaft. Because the root is the ordinary Latin word for a feather, the term is a plain descriptive coinage, and its meaning stays close to its visual source.

Synonyms: feathered, winged, fringed, plumate, plumose