oat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a grain from the cereal plant Avena sativa, used as food and animal feed and usually referred to in the plural as oats

   Each oat is protected by a tough outer hull before processing.

2. 2
   noun

   the cereal grass that produces oats, especially the cultivated species Avena sativa

   The farmer planted oat in the cooler field and wheat in the warmer one.

Inherited from Middle English ote and Old English ate, from a Proto-Germanic word probably connected with the idea of swelling or a grain-like nodule. Cognates survive in Scots ait and several other Germanic languages. English usually uses the plural oats for the harvested grain or crop.

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