regmacarp

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kerp-“to harvest; to pluck”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰreg-“to break”
3. Ancient Greek · derived fromῥῆγμα“something broken or rent asunder; a breach, cleft, fracture”
4. English todayregmacarp

From Ancient Greek ῥῆγμα (rhêgma, “something broken or rent asunder; a breach, cleft, fracture”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) + English -carp (suffix meaning ‘part of a fruit or fruiting body’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to harvest; to pluck”)), modelled after schizocarp. The word was probably coined by the Scottish physician and botanist William Ramsay McNab (1844–1889): see the 1871 article from the journal Nature quoted below.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1871 A fruit which, when mature, splits open to release its seeds; a dehiscent fruit.