eyespot

English

Etymology

From eye +‎ spot.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈʌɪspɒt/

Noun

eyespot (countable and uncountable, plural eyespots)

  1. (biology, countable) Any of various primitive light-sensitive organs or regions in many diverse organisms.
    • 2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 12:
      The eyespot is a complex sandwich of membranes with rows of granules that contain around 200 different proteins, including the same rhodopsins found in the retina of our own eye.
  2. (countable) An eye-like marking on the tail of a peacock or the wing of a butterfly.
    Synonym: ocellus
  3. (botany, countable) A coloured spot in a motile gamete or spore, which is sensitive to light.
  4. (botany) Any of a group of fungal infections of grasses that are characterized by oval spots; strawbreaker.

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