the.com/seedling
a plant betting its whole life savings on the kindness of dirt.
means A young plant grown from a seed, in its early and tender stage before it matures.
from A straightforward English compound: "seed" plus the diminutive suffix "-ling," the same little tag that turns a duck into a duckling and a goose into a gosling. "Seed" traces back to Old English "sǣd," rooted in the same ancient source as "sow," while "-ling" is a Germanic suffix marking smallness or offspring. So a seedling is, quite literally, a "little thing of seed."
raw powerSprouts crack concrete with cells pushing relentlessly upward.
food stashLives on packed lunch sealed inside the seed.
light huntBends toward light via hormone called auxin.
ancient sproutA 2,000-year-old date seed germinated in 2005.
survival oddsMost seedlings die before reaching adulthood.