grão

Grão is a Portuguese noun that denotes the seed or kernel of a plant, especially the edible seed of cereals and legumes. It refers to a single grain or seed, as in grão de trigo (wheat grain), grão de arroz (rice grain), or grão de milho (corn kernel). The term also appears in standardized names for specific foods, such as grão-de-bico (chickpea) and grão-de-feijão (bean seed). The plural grãos is used when speaking of many seeds.

In botanical and agricultural contexts, o grão broadly means the seed containing the embryo and stored nutrients. The viability, quality and moisture content of grãos are important in crop production, storage and processing. Grains from cereals (like trigo, arroz, milho) and pulses (like feijão and grão-de-bico) are central to many diets and food systems around the Portuguese-speaking world.

Etymology and usage: the word derives from Latin granum and is cognate with the Spanish grano. It is used in both Brazilian and European Portuguese to describe individual seeds and, by extension, the edible seeds used as ingredients in cooking. Beyond human consumption, the concept also covers seeds used for sowing and propagation, underscoring the seed as a fundamental unit in agriculture and plant life.

Overall, grão functions as a versatile term in language, agriculture and cuisine, referring to the seed of a plant in its botanical sense and to individual edible seeds in everyday food contexts.