Seed vs. Pit — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on April 22, 2024
Seeds are enclosed embryonic plants found in many fruits, facilitating new plant growth, while pits are the hard stone inside certain fruits, containing the seed.
Difference Between Seed and Pit
Table of Contents
ADVERTISEMENT
Key Differences
Seeds are reproductive units of most flowering plants, typically encased within a fruit, and essential for the propagation of species. On the other hand, pits, found in fruits like peaches and cherries, serve a protective role, housing the actual seed within a hard, stony endocarp.
Many seeds are small and numerous, such as those in a tomato, allowing for widespread dispersal. Whereas a pit usually contains a single seed, making the fruit itself the primary agent of dispersal.
Seeds can often be eaten and digested, with some even benefiting from passage through an animal's digestive tract. Conversely, pits are generally inedible and hard to digest, posing a risk if swallowed.
In terms of cultivation, seeds from fruits like apples can be directly planted to grow new trees. On the other hand, pits need to be cleaned and sometimes stratified or treated before they are viable for planting.
While many seeds are versatile and used in various culinary and agricultural applications, pits are often discarded or used decoratively, though sometimes they are processed for oil extraction.
ADVERTISEMENT
Comparison Chart
Definition
Embryonic plant enclosed in a fruit
Hard, stony casing containing a seed in certain fruits
Dispersal Method
Various, often through wind or animals
Typically through animal ingestion
Edibility
Often edible and nutritious
Inedible and hard
Digestibility
Usually digestible
Indigestible and potentially hazardous
Agricultural Use
Direct planting for growth
Requires treatment before planting
Compare with Definitions
Seed
Commercial seeds are often modified to increase yield and resistance.
Farmers use genetically modified seeds to improve crop production.
Pit
Also referred to as a "stone", pits are characteristic of drupes.
Cherries need to be pitted before making a pie.
Seed
A small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food.
The sunflower seed is popular as a snack.
Pit
Some pits, like those of peaches, have been used to extract oils.
Peach pit oil is prized for its cosmetic benefits.
Seed
Many seeds are edible and used in various cuisines.
Flax seeds are used in baking for their health benefits.
Pit
The hard, protective enclosure around the seed of certain fruits.
Removing the pit from an avocado can be tricky.
Seed
Seeds serve as the primary means of propagation for gymnosperms and angiosperms.
The dispersal of maple seeds occurs via wind.
Pit
Pits are generally discarded or composted in culinary contexts.
Apricot pits are often thrown away after the fruit is consumed.
Seed
A reproductive unit capable of developing into another such plant.
Gardeners often purchase seeds for planting in the spring.
Pit
Pits must be handled carefully as they can be a choking hazard.
Care must be taken to ensure children do not swallow cherry pits.
Seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm plants.
Pit
A large hole in the ground.
Seed
A mature plant ovule containing an embryo.
Pit
A hollow or indentation in a surface.
Seed
A small dry fruit, spore, or other propagative plant part.
Pit
An area at the side of a track where racing cars are serviced and refuelled
He had a flat tyre when he came into the pits
The pit lane
Seed
Seeds considered as a group
A farmer buying seed.
Pit
An orchestra pit.
Seed
The seed-bearing stage of a plant
The grass is in seed.
Pit
A part of the floor of a stock exchange in which a particular stock or commodity is traded
The trading pit of the Singapore International Monetary Exchange
Pooled commodity funds liquidated positions in the corn and soybean pits
Seed
A larval shellfish or a hatchling fish
Released scallop seed in the bay.
Pit
An enclosure in which animals are made to fight
A bear pit
Seed
An egg or cocoon of certain insects
Silkworm seed.
Pit
A person's bed.
Seed
A tiny bubble in a piece of glass.
Pit
A person's armpit.
Seed
(Medicine) A form of a radioactive isotope that is used to localize and concentrate the amount of radiation administered to a body site, such as a tumor.
Pit
The stone of a fruit.
Seed
A source or beginning; a germ
The seed of an idea.
Pit
Set someone or something in conflict or competition with
You'll get the chance to pit your wits against the world champions
Seed
A small amount of material used to start a chemical reaction.
Pit
Make a hollow or indentation in the surface of
Rain poured down, pitting the bare earth
Seed
A small crystal used to start a crystallization process.
Pit
Drive a racing car into the pits for fuel or maintenance
He pitted on lap 36 with sudden engine trouble
Seed
A cell that disperses, especially a cancer cell that spreads from a primary tumor to another location in the body.
Pit
Remove the pit from (fruit).
Seed
Offspring; progeny.
Pit
A natural or artificial hole or cavity in the ground.
Seed
Family stock; ancestry.
Pit
An excavation for the removal of mineral deposits; a mine.
Seed
Sperm; semen.
Pit
The shaft of a mine.
Seed
(Sports) A player who has been seeded for a tournament, often at a given rank
A top seed.
Pit
A concealed hole in the ground used as a trap; a pitfall.
Seed
To plant seeds in (land, for example); sow.
Pit
A small indentation in a surface
Pits in a windshield.
Seed
To plant (a crop, for example) as seeds in soil.
Pit
A natural hollow or depression in the body or an organ.
Seed
To remove the seeds from (fruit).
Pit
A small indented scar left in the skin by smallpox or other eruptive disease; a pockmark.
Seed
To furnish with something that grows or stimulates growth or development
A bioreactor seeded with bacteria.
Pit
(Zoology) Either of a pair of depressions between the nostril and the eye of a pit viper that contain heat-sensing organs.
Seed
To disperse to, as cancer cells
Organs seeded by circulating tumor cells.
Pit
(Botany) A cavity in the wall of a plant cell where there is no secondary wall, as in fibers, tracheids, and vessel elements.
Seed
To disperse or transfer (cancer cells, for example)
A needle biopsy that seeded cancer cells into adjacent tissue.
Seed stem cells onto collagen gels.
Pit
(Informal) An armpit.
Seed
(Meteorology) To sprinkle (a cloud) with particles, as of silver iodide, in order to disperse it or to produce precipitation.
Pit
An enclosed, usually sunken area in which animals, such as dogs or gamecocks, are placed for fighting.
Seed
To arrange (the drawing for positions in a tournament) so that the more skilled contestants meet in the later rounds.
Pit
The section directly in front of and below the stage of a theater, in which the musicians sit.
Seed
To rank (a contestant) in this way.
Pit
Chiefly British The ground floor of a theater behind the stalls.
Seed
To help (a business, for example) in its early development.
Pit
The section of an exchange where trading in a specific commodity is carried on.
Seed
To sow seed.
Pit
The gambling area of a casino.
Seed
To pass into the seed-bearing stage.
Pit
A sunken area in a garage floor from which mechanics may work on cars.
Seed
(Medicine) To disperse and often multiply, as cancer cells.
Pit
Often pits(Sports) An area beside an auto racecourse where cars may be refueled or serviced during a race
Pulled into the pits to have the tires rotated.
Seed
Set aside for planting a new crop
Seed corn.
Seed potatoes.
Pit
Hell. Used with the.
Seed
Intended to help in early stages
Provided seed capital for a fledgling business.
Pit
A miserable or depressing place or situation.
Seed
A fertilized and ripened ovule, containing an embryonic plant.
Pit
Pits(Slang) The worst. Used with the
"New York politics are the pits" (Washington Star).
Seed
(countable) Any small seed-like fruit.
If you plant a seed in the spring, you may have a pleasant surprise in the autumn.
Pit
(Football) The middle areas of the defensive and offensive lines.
Seed
Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
Pit
The single central kernel or stone of certain fruits, such as a peach or cherry.
Seed
An amount of seeds that cannot be readily counted.
The entire field was covered with geese eating the freshly sown seed.
Pit
To mark with cavities, depressions, or scars
A surface pitted with craters.
Seed
(countable) A fragment of coral.
Pit
To set in direct opposition or competition
A war that pitted brother against brother.
Seed
(uncountable) Semen.
A man must use his seed to start and raise a family.
Pit
To place, bury, or store in a pit.
Seed
A precursor.
The seed of an idea
Which idea was the seed (idea)?
Pit
To become marked with pits.
Seed
(countable) The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
Pit
To retain an impression after being indented. Used of the skin.
Seed
(sports) The initial position of a competitor or team in a tournament. (seed position)
The team with the best regular season record receives the top seed in the conference tournament.
Pit
To stop at a refueling area during an auto race.
Seed
The competitor or team occupying a given seed. (seed position)
The rookie was a surprising top seed.
Pit
To extract the pit from (a fruit).
Seed
(cryptography) The initialization state of a pseudorandom number generator or similar system. (seed number)
If you use the same seed you will get exactly the same pattern of numbers.
Pit
A hole in the ground.
The meadow around the town is full of old pits.
Seed
Commercial message in a creative format placed on relevant sites on the Internet. (seed idea or seed message)
The latest seed has attracted a lot of users in our online community.
Pit
(motor racing) An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
Two drivers have already gone into the pit this early in the race.
Seed
Offspring, descendants, progeny.
The seed of Abraham
Pit
(music) A section of the marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to march, such as the tam tam. Also, the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
Seed
Race; generation; birth.
Pit
A mine.
Seed
A small bubble formed in imperfectly fused glass.
Pit
(archaeology) A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.
Seed
(transitive) To plant or sow an area with seeds.
I seeded my lawn with bluegrass.
Pit
(trading) A trading pit.
Seed
(transitive) To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
Pit
The bottom part of something.
I felt pain in the pit of my stomach.
Seed
(transitive) To start; to provide, assign or determine the initial resources for, position of, state of.
A venture capitalist seeds young companies.
The tournament coordinator will seed the starting lineup with the best competitors from the qualifying round.
The programmer seeded fresh, uncorrupted data into the database before running unit tests.
Pit
(colloquial) Armpit.
Seed
To allocate a seeding to a competitor.
Pit
(aviation) A luggage hold.
Seed
To leave (files) available for others to download through peer-to-peer file sharing protocols (e.g. BitTorrent).
Pit
(countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
Seed
(intransitive) To be qualified to compete, especially in a quarter-final, semi-final, or final.
The tennis player seeded into the quarters.
Pit
The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
Seed
(intransitive) To produce seed.
Pit
The grave, underworld or Hell.
Seed
(intransitive) To grow to maturity.
Pit
An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
Seed
To ejaculate inside the penetratee during intercourse, especially in the rectum.
Pit
Formerly, that part of a theatre, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theatre.
Seed
(dialectal) see
Pit
(gambling) Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
Seed
A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or more integuments, or coverings; as, an apple seed; a currant seed. By germination it produces a new plant.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.
Pit
(slang) A mosh pit.
Because the museum was closed for renovation, the school decided to bring its fourth-graders to the pit at a Cannibal Corpse gig instead.
Seed
The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; - not used in the plural.
Pit
(American football) The center of the line.
Seed
That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
Pit
(hospital slang) The emergency department.
Seed
The principle of production.
Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed,Which may the like in coming ages breed.
Pit
A bed.
Seed
Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David.
Pit
(informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
This house is a total pit. We've got to get out of here!
Get back to the pit, dish bitch!
Seed
Race; generation; birth.
Of mortal seed they were not held.
Pit
A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
Seed
To sow seed.
Pit
A shell in a drupe containing a seed.
Seed
To shed the seed.
Pit
(military) The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
Seed
To grow to maturity, and to produce seed.
Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs.
Pit
(informal) A pit bull terrier.
Seed
To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.
Pit
(transitive) To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.
Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal.
Seed
To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes.
Pit
(transitive) To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.
Seed
A small hard fruit
Pit
(transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?
Seed
A mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and its food source and having a protective coat or testa
Pit
To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
Seed
One of the outstanding players in a tournament
Pit
(transitive) To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.
One must pit a peach to make it ready for a pie.
Seed
Anything that provides inspiration for later work
Pit
A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
Tumble me into some loathsome pit.
Seed
The thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
Pit
Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
He keepth back his soul from the pit.
Seed
Go to seed; shed seeds;
The dandelions went to seed
Pit
A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.
Seed
Help (an enterprise) in its early stages of development by providing seed money
Pit
A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body
Seed
Bear seeds
Pit
Formerly, that part of a theater, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theater.
Seed
Place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth;
She sowed sunflower seeds
Pit
An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
Seed
Distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or players will not meet in the early rounds
Pit
The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc.
Seed
Sprinkle with silver iodide particles to disperse and cause rain;
Seed clouds
Pit
To place or put into a pit or hole.
They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts, tumbled into the grave.
Seed
Inoculate with microorganisms
Pit
To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a face pitted by smallpox.
Seed
Remove the seeds from;
Seed grapes
Pit
To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.
Pit
A sizeable hole (usually in the ground);
They dug a pit to bury the body
Pit
A concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
Pit
The hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed;
You should remove the stones from prunes before cooking
Pit
A trap in the form of a concealed hole
Pit
A surface excavation for extracting stone or slate;
A British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'
Pit
Lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers
Pit
A workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it
Pit
Set into opposition or rivalry;
Let them match their best athletes against ours
Pit a chess player against the Russian champion
He plays his two children off against each other
Pit
Mark with a scar;
The skin disease scarred his face permanently
Pit
Remove the pits from;
Pit plums and cherries
Common Curiosities
How are seeds dispersed?
Seeds are dispersed in various ways including wind, water, and animals.
What fruits contain pits?
Fruits that contain pits include apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums.
What is a seed?
A seed is the reproductive unit of a flowering plant, typically capable of developing into another plant.
What is a pit?
A pit is the hard, stony part of some fruits that encloses and protects the seed.
Can you eat seeds?
Yes, many seeds are edible and nutritious, such as pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
Can you eat pits?
No, pits are inedible and can be hazardous if swallowed.
What is the difference between a seed and a pit?
A seed is an embryonic plant itself, while a pit is the hard covering that protects the seed in certain fruits.
Are all seeds enclosed in pits?
No, only certain fruits like cherries, peaches, and plums have pits.
Can you plant a pit?
Yes, but pits often require specific treatments like stratification to germinate.
Are pits dangerous?
Pits can be a choking hazard and are not digestible.
Why are pits hard?
The hardness of pits serves to protect the seed inside from damage and from being eaten by animals.
How are pits dispersed?
Pits are typically dispersed when the fruit is eaten by an animal and the pit is later excreted.
Are pits used in any products?
Yes, some pits are used to extract oils or can be used decoratively.
Can seeds be used for oil extraction?
Yes, some seeds like sunflower and sesame are commonly used to extract oil.
How do you remove a pit from a fruit?
Pits can be removed by cutting the fruit and carefully extracting the stone.
Share Your Discovery
Previous Comparison
Prone vs. Supine
Next Comparison
Psych vs. PsycheAuthor Spotlight
Written by
Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
