petiole

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
petiole /ˈpɛtɪəʊl/

▶noun

• 1 Botany the stalk that joins a leaf to a stem.

• 2 Zoology a slender stalk between two structures, e.g. the abdomen and thorax of an insect.

– derivatives
petiolar adjective,
petiolate /-lət/ adjective.

– origin C18: from Fr. pétiole, from L. petiolus ‘little foot, stalk’.