an organ of vegetative reproduction in plants such as the crocus, consisting of a globular stem base swollen with food and surrounded by papery scale leaves
Compare bulb (sense 1)
Derived forms
cormous (ˈcormous)
adjective
Word origin
C19: from New Latin cormus, from Greek kormos tree trunk from which the branches have been lopped
corm in American English
(kɔrm)
noun
a fleshy, thickened, vertical, underground stem, usually having annual segments with a bud at the tip, thin external scale leaves, and roots at the base, as in the gladiolus: corms differ from bulbs in having much more stem tissue and fewer scale leaves
Word origin
ModL < Gr kormos, trunk of a tree with branches lopped off < keirein, to cut off < IE base *(s)ker- > harvest