dehiscence
/dɪˈhɪsəns/noun
dehiscence is a noun meaning “Opening of an organ by its own means (such as an anther or a seed pod) to release its contents” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-E-H-I-S-C-E-N-C-E, and it appears about once in every 16 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of dehiscence is dehiscences.
What does dehiscence mean?
noun
- 1
Opening of an organ by its own means (such as an anther or a seed pod) to release its contents.
- 2
A rupture, as with a surgical wound opening up, often with a flow of serous fluid.
- 3
rareOpening, gaping, in a general sense.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce dehiscence?
- /dɪˈhɪsəns/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of dehiscence
- dehiscences plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is dehiscence?
Dehiscence appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 121,279th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Dehiscence in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | déhiscence |
| Portuguese | deiscência |
| Spanish | dehiscencia |
| German | Platzbauch |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does dehiscence come from?
From New Latin dehiscentia (in Linnaeus), from Latin dehiscentem, present participle of dehiscō. By surface analysis, dehisce + -ence.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).