pəˈrafəsə̇s noun
( plural paraphy·ses -əˌsēz)
Etymology: New Latin, from para- (I) + Greek physis origin, growth, nature — more at physics
1. : one of the slender sterile filaments that are commonly borne among the sporogenous or gametogenous organs in many cryptogamic plants, that may be either unicellular or pluricellular or either simple or branched, and that are often septate
2.
a. : a median evagination of the roof of the telencephalon anterior to the epiphysis of certain lower vertebrates
b. : one of several club-shaped chitinous projections near the edge of the pygidium of some scales