kernel
/ˈkɝ.nəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.58 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A small mass around which other matter is concreted; a nucleus; a concretion or hard lump in the flesh.
noun
The central part of many computer operating systems which manages the system's resources and the communication between hardware and software components.
noun
The core engine of any complex software system.
noun
The simplified input to an algorithm that has undergone kernelization.
Example Sentences
- "the kernel of an argument"
- "The Linux kernel is open-source."
- "The Dirichlet kernel convolved with a function yields its Fourier series approximation."
- "If a function is continuous then its kernel is a closed set."
- "Using the blunt end of one of the vibraphone mallets, he pried open her folds. With the balled end of the other, he rhythmically rolled over her kernel."
- "1. In every atom is an essential kernel which remains unaltered in all ordinary chemical changes and which possesses an excess of positive charges corresponding in number to the ordinal number of the group in the periodic table to which the element belongs."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-nóm Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂-nós Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm Proto-Germanic *kurną Proto-West Germanic *korn Proto-Indo-European *-lósder. Proto-Germanic *-ilaz Proto-West Germanic *-il Proto-West Germanic *kurnil Old English cyrnel Middle English kirnel English kernel From Middle English kernel, kirnel, kürnel, from Old English cyrnel, from Proto-West Germanic *kurnil, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kurną (“seed, grain, corn”), equivalent to corn + -le. Cognate with Yiddish קערנדל (kerndl), Middle Dutch kernel, cornel, Middle High German kornel. Related also to Old Norse kjarni (“kernel”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: kernel, cyrnel, *kurnil, *kurną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɝ.nəl/
- British English: /ˈkɜː.nəl/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
grape kernel
kernel corn
kernel cowry
kernel cowrie
kernel function
kernel hacker
kernel of truth
kernel pair