1. The inner and usually edible part of a seed, grain, nut or fruit stone
   "black walnut kernels are difficult to get out of the shell";
   - meat
    
2. A single whole grain of a cereal
   "a kernel of corn"
    
3. The choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
   "the kernel of the prosecutor's argument";
   - substance, core, center [US], centre [Brit, Cdn], essence, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty-gritty [informal]
    
4. (computing) the core program of an operating system, managing hardware resources and providing services to other programs
   "Linux kernels are known for their stability"
    
5. (statistics) a weighting function used in non-parametric estimation
   "A Gaussian kernel was used for the density estimation"
    
6. (mathematics) the set of elements that map to zero under a homomorphism
   "The kernel of this linear transformation"

Sounds like: colonel

Derived forms: kernels

Type of: caryopsis, cognitive content, content, grain, mental object, plant part, plant structure

Part of: seed

Encyclopedia: Kernel