From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In common parlance, a stem is any elongated, usually narrow, extension or supporting structure of an object. Examples are the stem of a smoking pipe, stem of a cut flower, stem of a wine glass, etc. Uses of the term specific to certain fields are as follow:
- In botany, a stem is the above ground axis of a vascular plant.
- In music, a stem is part of the annotation used to write musical notes.
- In rock climbing, a stem is a move that involves two widely spaced holds.
- In linguistics, a stem is the base part of the word without any affixes, the part that remains unchanged through inflexion. Also known as root, root word, base and theme.
