taste bud

noun

: an end organ mediating the sensation of taste and lying chiefly in the epithelium of the tongue

Examples of taste bud in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dynamic Culinary Scene The city’s vibrant and rapidly rising culinary scene serves to tantalize taste buds. —Roger Sands, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025

Shocking your taste buds with an electric salt spoon Kirin Holdings has unveiled an innovative electric salt spoon that uses a mild electrical current to enhance food flavor without adding sodium. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 12 Jan. 2025

Top One Hot Pot had a delicious sour, spicy Tom Yum soup that left my taste buds tingling. —Reia Li, The Arizona Republic, 31 Dec. 2024

So consider this: Just as your tongue has taste buds, your mind has moral taste buds. —Sigal Samuel, Vox, 15 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

taste bud

noun

: any of the sense organs by means of which taste is recognized and which are usually on the surface of the tongue

Medical Definition

taste bud

noun

: an end organ that mediates the sensation of taste, lies chiefly in the epithelium of the tongue and especially in the walls of the circumvallate papillae, and consists of a conical or flask-shaped mass made up partly of supporting cells and partly of neuroepithelial sensory cells terminating peripherally in short hairlike processes which project into the pore in the overlying epithelium and by which communication with the mouth cavity is effected