petiole
/ˈpɛti.oʊl/noun
petiole is a noun meaning “The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled P-E-T-I-O-L-E, and it appears about once in every 3 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of petiole is petioles.
What does petiole mean?
noun
- 1
The stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem.
- 2
A narrow or constricted segment of the body of an insect; especially, the metasomal segment of certain Hymenoptera, such as wasps.
- 3
The stalk at the base of the nest of the paper wasp.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce petiole?
- UK /ˈpɛti.əʊl/
- US /ˈpɛti.oʊl/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-petiole.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of petiole
- petioles plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is petiole?
Petiole appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 54,808th 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).
Petiole in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense stalk of a leaf:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pétiole |
| German | Blattstiel, Stängel |
| Portuguese | pecíolo |
| Spanish | pecíolo, peciolo |
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 petiole come from?
Borrowed from French pétiole, and its source, Late Latin petiolus (“little foot”), diminutive form of Latin pēs (“foot”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).