ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Old English cyrnel, diminutive of corn
DATE before 12th century
1.chiefly dialect: a fruit seed 2. the inner softer part of a seed, fruit stone, or nut 3. a whole seed of a cereal a kernel of corn 4. a central or essential part :germ like many stereotypes…this one too contains some kernels of truth — S. M. Lyman 5. a subset of the elements of one set (as a group) that a function (as a homomorphism) maps onto an identity element of another set