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A cycad is a tropical palmlike evergreen plant. Cycads flourished especially during the Jurassic and are represented by four surviving families. Cycads have crowns of large, feathery compound leaves and cones at the ends of their branches. Some have tall, unbranched trunks; others have partially buried stems with swollen trunks. Slow-growing cycads are used as ornamental conservatory plants, but some survive outdoors in temperate regions. The stems of some cycads yield starch that is edible if thoroughly cooked. The young leaves and seeds of others also are edible.
Examples of cycad in a Sentence
Brian T. Allen, National Review, 30 Mar. 2024
These cycads grow very slowly and can take 50 years to reach 10 feet in height.
—Marissa Wu, Southern Living, 12 Mar. 2024
Despite the common name, sago palm is actually a cycad and produces cones instead of flowers.
—Marissa Wu, Southern Living, 12 Mar. 2024
The speaker is Al Klein, owner of Botanic Wonders Nursery, who specializes in cycads, rare succulents and other exotic plants.
—Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Sep. 2023
Among those special single specimen plants, most installed near the house, are several prehistoric and unusual plant varieties, including the sago palm; cycads, including Dioon, Encephalartos and Zamia; and the Queensland bottle tree.
—Nicole Sours Larson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
In addition to necessitating an understanding of seasonality and growth cycles, bush foods may require unique processing and preparation, such as wild yams and cycad seeds, both of which are toxic unless first leached in water.
—Jessica Wynne Lockhart, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023
Look for ancient cycad species, some of them extinct in the wild, and aloes with dramatic colors and shapes.
—Helen Purcell Montag, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 May 2023
Vast, grassy plains only spread about 36 million years later, so much of the low-growing groundcover of the Late Cretaceous was ferns, cycads and similar plants.
—Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cycad.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
New Latin Cycad-, Cycas, genus name, from Greek kykas, manuscript variant of koïkas, accusative plural of koïx, a kind of palm
1845, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near cycad
Cite this Entry
“Cycad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cycad. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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cycad
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on cycad
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cycad
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