parenchyma

Meaning

Noun

• The functional tissue of an organ as distinguished from the connective and supporting tissue.
• The cellular tissue, typically soft and succulent, found chiefly in the softer parts of leaves, pulp of fruits, bark and pith of stems, etc.
• Cellular tissue lying between the body wall and the organs of invertebrate animals lacking a coelom, such as flatworms.

Related

Opposite words

• stroma

Origin

• From Ancient Greek παρέγχῠμα ("anything poured in beside"), from πᾰρᾰ- + ἔγχῠμα, given by the Greek anatomist Erasistratus to the peculiar substance of the lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen, as if formed separately by the veins that run into them.