Meanings
plural thalluses · plural thalli
- biologyAn undifferentiated plant body, such as in algae.
As it flows it takes the forms of sappy leaves or vines, making heaps of pulpy sprays a foot or more in depth, and resembling, as you look down on them, the laciniated, lobed, and imbricated thalluses of some lichens; […]
1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Spring”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰelh₁-“to bloom”
- Ancient Greekθαλλός“young shoot, twig”
- Englishthallus
From Ancient Greek θαλλός (thallós, “young shoot, twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelh₁- (“to bloom”).
More words from Ancient Greek, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian талус
- талус (talus)thallus
Dutch thallus
- thallusthallus
Finnish sekovarsi
- sekovarsithallus
French thalle
- thallethallus
German Thallus
- Thallusthallus
Hungarian telep
- telepthallus
Italian tallo
- tallothallus
Polish plecha
- plechathallus
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with thallus
All rhymes →Cite this entry
thallus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thallus
“thallus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thallus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thallus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thallus.
Source: thallus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.