ˌkäd. ə lˈēd ə n, -ät ə lˈ-, ˈ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, navelwort, from Greek kotylēdōn cup-shaped hollow, navelwort, from kotylē cup, anything hollow — more at kettle
1. -s : a placental lobule with its included and complexly branched villous tree — used especially of the discrete placental lobules typical of ruminants
2. -s : the first leaf or one of the first pair of whorl leaves developed by the embryo in seed plants and in ferns and related plants that functions primarily to make stored food in the endosperm available to the developing young plant but in some cases acts as a storage or photosynthetic organ — called also seed leaf ; see scutellum 1b
3.
a. capitalized : a large genus of herbaceous succulent southern African plants (family Crassulaceae) having a gamopetalous corolla of five petals and usually twice as many stamens as petals
b. -s : any plant of this genus