Meanings
palmate1
- not comparablebiologyHaving three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point.
Although palmate leaves are typical of most Western maples, a number of species have leaves without lobes.
- not comparablebiologyHaving more than three leaflets arising from a common point, often in the form of a fan.
The horse chestnut, buckeye and hickory trees have palmate leaves. That is, the broad oval leaflets are all set around the tip of a common leaf stem, spreading in a circle, like the ribs of a palm leaf fan.
1909, Eleanor Stockhouse Atkinson, “In the Tree Tops”, in The How and Why Library - not comparablerareHand-like; shaped like a hand with extended fingers
palmate2
plural palmates
- chemistryAny salt or ester of ricinoleic acid (formerly called palmic acid); a ricinoleate.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjective(of the feet of water birds) having three toes connected by a thin fold of skin
adjectiveof a leaf shape; having leaflets or lobes radiating from a common point
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
palmate · adjective
- Latinpalmātus“hand-shaped, palm-leaf shaped”
- Englishpalmate
Learned borrowing from Latin palmātus (“hand-shaped, palm-leaf shaped”), from palma (“palm, palm-tree”). Equivalent to palm + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Compare French palmé.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian длановиден
- длановиден (dlanoviden)botany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Catalan palmat
- palmatbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Finnish sormijakoinen, kourasuoninen
- sormijakoinenbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
- kourasuoninenbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
- sormiliuskainenbotany: having more than three leaflets arising from a common point
- sormiosainenbotany: having more than three leaflets arising from a common point
German gefingert
- gefingertbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Irish palmatach
- palmatachbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Russian пальчатый, дланевидный
- пальчатый (palʹčatyj)botany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
- дланевидный (dlanevidnyj)botany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Welsh palfog
- palfogbotany: having three or more lobes or veins arising from a common point
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
palmate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmate
“palmate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “palmate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palmate.
Source: palmate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.