noun Botany.
- an often large, finely divided leaf, especially as applied to the ferns and certain palms.
- a leaflike expansion not differentiated into stem and foliage, as in lichens.
noun
- a large compound leaf, esp of a fern
- the thallus of a seaweed or a lichen
1785, from Latin frons (genitive frondis) “leafy branch, green bough, foliage.” Adopted by Linnæus in a sense distinct from folium.
- A leaf of a fern or cycad, usually consisting of multiple leaflets.
- A large, fanlike leaf of a palm tree.
- A leaflike structure such as the thallus of a lichen or a seaweed.