# seed

> English word · Noun · IPA /siːd/ · frequency rank #3,846

## Definitions
1. Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
2. Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
3. Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
4. An amount of seeds that cannot be readily counted.
5. A fragment of coral.
6. Semen.
7. A precursor.
8. The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
9. The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
10. The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
11. The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
12. The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
13. Offspring, descendants, progeny.
14. Race; generation; birth.
15. A small particle, bubble, or imperfection that serves as a nucleation point for some process.
16. A small bubble formed in imperfectly fused glass.
17. A child.

## Etymology
]
From Middle English seed, sede, side, from Old English sēd, sǣd (“seed, that which is sown”), from Proto-West Germanic *sād, from Proto-Germanic *sēdą, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow, throw”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola zeade (“seed”), North Frisian sead, seed, siad, Siid, sädj, säid (“seed”), Saterland Frisian Säid (“seed”), West Frisian sied (“seed”), Dutch zaad (“seed”), German Saat (“seed; sowing”), Limburgish zaod (“seed”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk sæd (“seed”), Faroese and Icelandic sáð (“seed”), Swedish säd (“seed”), Gothic *𐍃𐌴𐌸𐍃 (*sēþs, “seed”); also Latin serō (“to sow, plant”), Latvian sēt (“to sow”), Lithuanian sėti (“to sow”), Bulgarian се́я (séja, “to sow, plant”), Czech sít (“to sow”), Macedonian сее (see, “to sow”), Polish siać (“to sow”), Russian се́ять (séjatʹ, “to sow”), Serbo-Croatian се̏јати, sȅjati, си̏јати, sȉjati (“to sow”), Slovak siať (“to sow”), Slovene sejáti (“to sow”), Ukrainian сі́яти (síjaty, “to sow”). More at sow.

## Easily confused with
- **she** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-she)
- **set** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-set)
- **sex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sex)
- **sue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sue)
- **sen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sen)
- **SEO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-seo)
- **SEP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sep)
- **Sid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sid)
- **ser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-ser)
- **sew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sew)
- **STD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-std)
- **ses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-ses)
- **SPD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-spd)
- **sem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sem)
- **sod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sod)
- **SSD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-ssd)
- **Syd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-syd)
- **SEQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-seq)
- **sie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sie)
- **SME** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seed-vs-sme)

## Common misspellings (4)
`esed`, `sede`, `seedd`, `sseed`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/seed