Meaning & use
hulled seed
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Meanings
nouncountable
A seed whose hard outer covering has been removed, often sold for eating or planting.
Grammar: Countable: one hulled seed, two hulled seeds. Often used in the plural as a mass-like item: 'a handful of hulled seeds'.
Patterns
- hulled seeds
- a packet of hulled seeds
She sprinkled hulled sesame seeds over the bread before baking.
The recipe calls for hulled sunflower seeds, not the ones still in their shells.
Farmers sometimes plant hulled seed to help it sprout faster.
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
The seed of a cereal grain, such as oats or barley, with its outer husk removed.
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to individual seeds, or uncountable when talking about the substance in bulk: 'hulled seed is sold in bulk'.
Patterns
- hulled seed
- hulled barley
- hulled oats
Hulled barley cooks faster than the whole-grain kind because the tough outer layer is gone.
The mill buys hulled seed from local farmers.
For porridge, some people prefer hulled oats for a smoother texture.
Word forms
| plural | hulled seeds |
|---|
Common combinations
- hulled sunflower seeds
- I add hulled sunflower seeds to my salad for extra crunch.
- hulled sesame seeds
- Hulled sesame seeds are white and are often used in baking.
- hulled barley
- Hulled barley takes about 45 minutes to cook.
- a handful of hulled seeds
- He ate a handful of hulled seeds as a snack.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shelled seed
- Very close in meaning, but 'shelled' is more common for nuts and some seeds like sunflower seeds; 'hulled' is more technical and often used for grains.
- dehulled seed
- A more formal or industrial term for seeds with the hull removed; it is less common in everyday cooking.
Opposites
Word family
- hull verb
- To remove the outer covering from a seed, grain, or fruit.
- huller noun
- A machine or person that removes hulls from seeds or grains.
Commonly confused: hulled seed or whole seed? hulled seed or hull?
hulled seed vs whole seed
A whole seed still has its outer coat; a hulled seed has had that coat removed. So they are not the same.
hulled seed vs hull
As a noun, 'hull' is the outer covering itself; 'hulled' describes a seed that no longer has that covering.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'hulled seed' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option C is correct because 'hulled' means the outer covering has been removed, making the seed easier to digest. Option An is wrong because a hulled seed does not still have its shell. Option B is wrong because if it is already hulled, you would not remove the hull again. Option D is wrong because 'hulled' is an adjective here, not a verb form used that way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hulled seed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.