aril

noun

ar·​il ˈa-rəl 

ˈer-əl

: an exterior covering or appendage of some seeds (as of the yew) that develops after fertilization as an outgrowth from the ovule stalk

arillate

ˈa-rə-ˌlāt 

ˈer-ə-

adjective

Examples of aril in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Pomegranate arils can be enjoyed fresh or can be frozen for long-term storage. —Jillian Kubala, Health, 9 Oct. 2024

The burger is topped with a slightly sweet house housemade pomegranate sauce and crunchy pomegranate arils. —Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 1 July 2024

Pomegranate juice and pomegranate liqueur are added to the foundational trio of tequila, lime, and orange liqueur—serve in a salty-sweet rimmed glass garnished with lime wheels and pomegranate arils. —Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 28 Mar. 2024

Top with the chilled Prosecco and sprinkle with pomegranate arils. —Stephanie Gravalese, Forbes, 26 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin arillus, going back to Medieval Latin, "grape seed," borrowed from a central or southern Italian dialectal form (as Lazio dialect [Subiaco] aríłu "grape seed," 16th-century Sicilian arillu), going back to Vulgar Latin *arīllus, of obscure origin

Note: See Lessico etimologico italiano, vol. 3, columns 1151-55. The inclusion of arillus in the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum (and hence the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae) is misleading, as the marginal note in the manuscript that uses the word (Biblioteca Ambrosiana C 243) is later than the manuscript itself (10th-llth centuries)—hence a Late Latin date for the word is not supportable, and the Medieval Latin instances (see Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources) are clearly latinizations of a vernacular word. Judging by the medieval attestation in glossaries and in works of both a medical and botanical nature, the Lessico suggests that the word may have first circulated in the Salerno school of medicine (Schola Medica Salernitana). Such a source corresponds well with the range of its outcomes in Romance, limited to Italian dialects from Lazio and Abruzzi south through Sicily. The date at which arillus became a technical botanical term is uncertain. It was familiar to Linnaeus, who uses it in a somewhat more general sense: "tunica propria exterior seminis, sponte secedens" ("the exterior coat of the seed proper, dropping off of its own accord") (Philosophia botanica [Stockholm, 1751], p. 54).

First Known Use

1794, in the meaning defined above