aril

noun

ar·​il ˈa-rəl 

ˈer-əl

: an exterior covering or appendage of some seeds (as of the yew) that develops after fertilization as an outgrowth from the ovule stalk

arillate

ˈa-rə-ˌlāt 

ˈer-ə-

adjective

Examples of aril in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The seeds, called arils, are full of vitamin C and potassium. —Mary Ann Esposito, Boston Herald, 7 Jan. 2026

How To Store Pomegranates For containers of arils purchased at the grocery store, refer to the use-by date on the package. —Stacey Lastoe, Southern Living, 3 Jan. 2026

Pomegranate seeds, also known as arils, arils, are packed with polyphenols and flavonoids, including anthocyanins, ellagitannins and organic acids that have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. —Jillian Kubala, Health, 6 Nov. 2025

Combine cooked Brussels sprouts with pomegranate arils and pumpkin seeds for a high-fiber fall dish that supports blood sugar balance. —Amy Brownstein, Verywell Health, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin arillus, going back to Medieval Latin, "grape seed," borrowed from a central or southern Italian dialectal form (as Lazio dialect [Subiaco] aríłu "grape seed," 16th-century Sicilian arillu), going back to Vulgar Latin *arīllus, of obscure origin

Note: See Lessico etimologico italiano, vol. 3, columns 1151-55. The inclusion of arillus in the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum (and hence the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae) is misleading, as the marginal note in the manuscript that uses the word (Biblioteca Ambrosiana C 243) is later than the manuscript itself (10th-llth centuries)—hence a Late Latin date for the word is not supportable, and the Medieval Latin instances (see Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch, Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources) are clearly latinizations of a vernacular word. Judging by the medieval attestation in glossaries and in works of both a medical and botanical nature, the Lessico suggests that the word may have first circulated in the Salerno school of medicine (Schola Medica Salernitana). Such a source corresponds well with the range of its outcomes in Romance, limited to Italian dialects from Lazio and Abruzzi south through Sicily. The date at which arillus became a technical botanical term is uncertain. It was familiar to Linnaeus, who uses it in a somewhat more general sense: "tunica propria exterior seminis, sponte secedens" ("the exterior coat of the seed proper, dropping off of its own accord") (Philosophia botanica [Stockholm, 1751], p. 54).

First Known Use

1794, in the meaning defined above