frond

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Latin frons, frond-bor. English frond Borrowed from Latin frons, frond- (“leafy branch”).

1. The leaf of a fern, especially a compound leaf.

   “By the bank, fifty yards below Elm Island, stood the Master, looking into water six inches deep. A fern frond, knocked off the bank upstream, came down turning like a little green dragon in the clear water.”

2. Any fern-like leaf or other object resembling a fern leaf.

   “palm frond”

   “Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.”