English▸ noun a softer, usually edible part of a nut, seed, or fruit stone contained within its hard shell.
▪ the seed and hard husk of a cereal, especially wheat.
▪ [in singular] the central or most important part of something:
this is the kernel of the argument.
▪ the most basic level or core of an operating system of a computer, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security.
▪ [as modifier] Linguistics denoting a basic unmarked linguistic string.