Tuberculate

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Covered with small rounded swellings or knobs, as with the surface of certain roots, stems or bones
2. Bearing many little raised nodules or tubercles across its outer surface, a feature seen in some plants and animals
3. Having a surface marked by numerous small knob-like bumps or rounded projections growing out from it

Etymology: "Tuberculate" describes something covered in small knobs or warts, such as the rough skin of certain seeds, shells, or plants. It is a plain formation: Latin "tuberculum" meant a small swelling or lump (a diminutive of "tuber", a swelling or knob), and the adjective "tūberculātus" was built from it with the suffix "-atus", meaning "provided with" or "having". English took the adjective over directly from Latin, and French has a close parallel in "tuberculé". The word is therefore a neat piece of botanical and zoological vocabulary rather than a story of meaning drift. Its root "tuber" also gave English "tuber", the swollen underground stem of a plant such as the potato, which is a useful way to remember the family. The Latin "tuber" itself was a word for a bump or lump, and the modern tuberculosis name comes from the same root, since the disease was named for the nodules it produced in tissue.

Synonyms: tuberculated, tuberculous