peasant, any member of a class of persons who till the soil as small landowners or as agricultural labourers. The term peasant originally referred to small-scale agriculturalists in Europe in historic times, but many other societies, both past and present, have had a peasant class. The peasant

peasant, any member of a class of persons who till the soil as small landowners or as agricultural labourers. The term peasant originally referred to small-scale agriculturalists in Europe in historic times, but many other societies, both past and present, have had a peasant class. The peasant

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder: Artistic evolution and affinities of Pieter Bruegel, the Elder: …figures in such works as Peasant and Bird Nester (1568) have something of the grandeur of Michelangelo. In the very last works, two trends appear: on the one hand, a combined monumentalization and extreme simplification of figures and, on the other hand, an exploration of the expressive quality of the…

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder was the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, whose landscapes and vigorous, often witty scenes of peasant life are particularly renowned. Since Bruegel signed and dated many of his works, his artistic evolution can be traced from the early landscapes, in which he

mir, in Russian history, a self-governing community of peasant households that elected its own officials and controlled local forests, fisheries, hunting grounds, and vacant lands. To make taxes imposed on its members more equitable, the mir assumed communal control of the community’s arable land

Jacob van Ruisdael: Ruisdael’s early work, such as Peasant Cottage in a Landscape (c. 1646; Hermitage, St. Petersburg), reflects his obsession with trees. Earlier Dutch artists used trees merely as decorative compositional devices, but Ruisdael made them the subject of his paintings and imbued them with forceful personalities. His draftsmanship was meticulously precise…

Western painting: Low Countries: …Institute of Arts) and “Peasant Dance” and “Peasant Wedding” (both in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

Les Murray: Peasant Mandarin (1978) champions the antielitist vitality of “Australocentrism,” at the same time demonstrating a high regard for a classical education and its traditions. The essays in A Working Forest (1997) indict academia for making poetry inaccessible to the average reader and give vent to…

Mao Zedong: The communists and the Nationalists: …he also served at the Peasant Movement Training Institute, set up in Guangzhou under the auspices of the Nationalists, as principal of the sixth training session. Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) had become the leader of the Nationalists after the death of Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, and, although Chiang still…

Bulgarian Agrarian National Union, Bulgarian political party founded under the name Bulgarian Agrarian Union in 1899. The party controlled the government between 1919 and 1923 and introduced extensive land reforms. Originally a professional organization, it became a peasants’ political party by

Stanisław Mikołajczyk: Mikołajczyk’s Peasant Party leaders, as the only organized non-Communist opposition, suffered from repeated intimidation and arrests. When the manipulated election of 1947 foreshadowed a Stalinist takeover, Mikołajczyk fled to England and then to the United States.

Ion Mihalache: …leader and founder of the Peasant Party.

peasant, any member of a class of persons who till the soil as small landowners or as agricultural labourers. The term peasant originally referred to small-scale agriculturalists in Europe in historic times, but many other societies, both past and present, have had a peasant class. The peasant

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder: Artistic evolution and affinities of Pieter Bruegel, the Elder: Though transformed into peasants, the figures in such works as Peasant and Bird Nester (1568) have something of the grandeur of Michelangelo. In the very last works, two trends appear: on the one hand, a combined monumentalization and extreme simplification of figures and, on the other hand, an…

Anton Chekhov: Melikhovo period: 1892–98: …work, most notably in “Peasants” (1897). Undistinguished by plot, the short sequence of brilliant sketches created more stir in Russia than any other single work of Chekhov’s, partly owing to his rejection of the convention whereby writers commonly presented the Russian peasantry in sentimentalized and debrutalized form.

Fridrikh Markovich Ermler: …regained, his memory; Krestyanye (1935; Peasants), also a classic, a grand-scale film on collectivization that mirrors peasant folkways with warmth and sympathy; Veliky grazhdanin (Part 1, 1937, Part 2, 1939; The Great Citizen), dealing with interparty conflicts; and Veliky perelom (1946; The Great Turning Point), extolling Stalin’s leadership of the…

Thomas Gainsborough: Bath period: This is particularly noticeable in Peasants Returning from Market, with its rich colour and beautiful creamy pastel shades. The influence of Rubens is also apparent in The Harvest Wagon in the fluency of the drawing and the scale of the great beech trees so different from the stubby oaks of…

Russia: Economic and social development: …assisted by loans from the Peasants’ Land Bank, set up by the government in 1882. The Nobles’ Land Bank, set up in 1885, made loans to landowners at more favourable rates of interest; it may have retarded, but did not prevent, the passage of land from landowners to peasants. In…

Peasants’ Revolt, (1381), first great popular rebellion in English history. Its immediate cause was the imposition of the unpopular poll tax of 1380, which brought to a head the economic discontent that had been growing since the middle of the century. The rebellion drew support from several

Peasants’ War, (1524–25) peasant uprising in Germany. Inspired by changes brought by the Reformation, peasants in western and southern Germany invoked divine law to demand agrarian rights and freedom from oppression by nobles and landlords. As the uprising spread, some peasant groups organized

Władysław Stanisław Reymont: (1904–09; The Peasants; filmed 1973), is a chronicle of peasant life during the four seasons of a year. Written almost entirely in peasant dialect, it has been translated into many languages and won for Reymont the Nobel Prize.

doublet: An extreme fashion, the peascod, or goose-bellied doublet, came to England from Holland in the 1570s; it was padded to a point at the waist and swelled out over the girdle. It survives in the traditional costume of Punch.

George Stephenson: …Darlington he interviewed the promoter, Edward Pease, and so impressed him that Pease commissioned him to build a steam locomotive for the line. On September 27, 1825, railroad transportation was born when the first public passenger train, pulled by Stephenson’s Active (later renamed Locomotion), ran from Darlington to Stockton, carrying…

Edward Reynolds Pease was an English writer and one of the founders of the Fabian Society. Born to a prosperous family, Pease left a business career and joined with Frank Podmore, a spiritualist and socialist writer, to found the Fabian Society in London in January 1884. The Fabians sought a

Marine Corps War Memorial: It was designed by Horace W. Peaslee and was dedicated on Nov. 10, 1954.

peat, spongy material formed by the partial decomposition of organic matter, primarily plant material, in wetlands such as swamps, muskegs, bogs, fens, and moors. The development of peat is favoured by warm moist climatic conditions; however, peat can develop even in cold regions such as Siberia,

peat moss, (genus Sphagnum), genus of more than 300 species of moss (division Bryophyta). The taxonomy of Sphagnum species has been controversial, and various botanists accept quite different numbers of species. Peat mosses form dense clumps around ponds, in swamps and bogs, on moist acidic cliffs,

peat: Peat formation: Peatification is influenced by several factors, including the nature of the plant material deposited, the availability of nutrients to support bacterial life, the availability of oxygen, the acidity of the peat, and temperature. Some wetlands result from high groundwater levels, whereas some elevated bogs are…

The Wild Ass’s Skin, novel by Honoré de Balzac, published in two volumes in 1831 as La Peau de chagrin and later included as part of the Études philosophiques section of La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy). A poor young writer, Raphael de Valentin, is given a magical ass’s skin that will grant

Frantz Fanon: …Peau noire, masques blancs (1952; Black Skin, White Masks) is a multidisciplinary analysis of the effect of colonialism on racial consciousness. Integrating psychoanalysis, phenomenology, existentialism, and Negritude theory, Fanon articulated an expansive view of the psychosocial repercussions of colonialism on colonized people. The publication shortly before

San Diego Padres: …by the pitching of starter Jake Peavy and Trevor Hoffman (who became the league’s all-time save leader in 2006), but each postseason appearance ended with a loss in the first round of the playoffs. A disgruntled Bochy left the Padres after the 2006 season to manage the divisional rival San…

gravel: …gravel range in size from pebbles (4–64 mm [0.16–2.52 inches] in diameter), through cobbles (64–256 mm [2.52–10.08 inches]), to boulders (larger than 256 mm). The rounding of gravel results from abrasion in the course of transport by streams or from milling by the sea. Gravel deposits accumulate in parts of…

U.S. Open: Jack Nicklaus’s personal reflections: Pebble Beach has always been one of my favourite courses. In fact, I have commented many times that if I had just one round of golf to play, it would likely be at Pebble Beach. I fell in love with the seaside layout in 1961…

pebble chopper, primordial cutting tool, the oldest type of tool made by forerunners of modern humans. The tool consists of a rounded stone struck a number of blows with a similar stone used as a pounder, which created a serrated crest that served as a chopping blade. The tool could be used as a

plaster: Splatter dash and pebble dash are textured surfaces resulting from throwing mortar or pebble with some force on the finish coat while it is still soft.

pebble mosaic, type of mosaic work that uses natural pebbles arranged to form decorative or pictorial patterns. It was used only for pavements and was the earliest type of mosaic in all areas of the eastern Mediterranean, appearing in Asia Minor in excavated floors from the 8th and 7th centuries

pebble chopper, primordial cutting tool, the oldest type of tool made by forerunners of modern humans. The tool consists of a rounded stone struck a number of blows with a similar stone used as a pounder, which created a serrated crest that served as a chopping blade. The tool could be used as a

number game: Nim and similar games: The game of pebbles, also known as the game of odds, is played by two people who start with an odd number of pebbles placed in a pile. Taking turns, each player draws one, or two, or three pebbles from the pile. When all the pebbles have been…

sedimentary rock: Matrix-supported conglomerates: …rarer diamictites, known as laminated pebbly (or cobbly or bouldery) mudstones, consist of delicately laminated mudrocks in which scattered coarser clasts occur. Laminations within the muddy component are broken and bent. They are located beneath and adjacent to the larger clasts but gently overlap or arch over them, suggesting that…

microsporidian: …Nosema bombycis causes the disease pébrine in silkworms (see Nosema).

speciesism: …on what he calls the principle of equal consideration of interests (PEC). This is the claim that one should give equal weight in one’s moral decision making to the like interests of all those affected by one’s actions. According to Singer, the PEC expresses what most people now understand (or…

Pejë, town, western Kosovo. It lies on a small tributary of the Beli Drim River, between the North Albanian Alps (Prokletije) and the Mokra Mountain Range. It is populated largely by ethnic Albanians, who are primarily Muslim. It is noted for its mosques, narrow streets, and old Turkish houses.

Pekalongan, kota (city) and kabupaten (regency), Central Java (Jawa Tengah) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. The city, which is the capital of the regency, is situated on the northern coastal plain of the island of Java. The population of the regency is primarily Javanese, with a

pecan, (Carya illinoinensis), nut and tree of the walnut family (Juglandaceae) native to temperate North America. Rich and distinctive in flavour and texture, the pecan has one of the highest fat contents of any vegetable product and a caloric value close to that of butter. The pecan may be eaten

Pecan Shellers’ Strike, labour dispute (January–March 1938) in which thousands of pecan shellers, most of whom were Latina women, walked off their jobs in San Antonio, Texas, protesting low pay and substandard working conditions. Though the strikers ultimately received a small pay increase, most

Black Hawk War: Raids and retreat: Another early encounter was the Battle of the Pecatonica in southwestern Wisconsin. Eleven Kickapoo who had attacked a group of settlers on June 14 and ambushed another settler on June 16 were trapped, killed, and scalped that day at a bend in Pecatonica River by soldiers. Also on June 16…

peccary, (family Tayassuidae), any of the three species of piglike mammal found in the southern deserts of the United States southward through the Amazon basin to Patagonian South America (see Patagonia). Closely resembling the wild pig (see boar), the peccary has dark coarse hair and a large head

Leo XIII was the head of the Roman Catholic Church (1878–1903) who brought a new spirit to the papacy, expressed in more conciliatory positions toward civil governments, by less opposition to scientific progress, and by an awareness of the pastoral and social needs of the times. Vincenzo Gioacchino

Islamic arts: Belles lettres: …works, such as those of Peçevi (died c. 1650) and Naima (died 1716), for this reason almost defy translation. Later Persian prose in India suffered from the same defects. This development in Persian and Turkish prose is also reflected in the handbooks on style and letter writing that were written…

Mesoamerican Indian languages: The classification and status of Mesoamerican languages:

Morena, city, northern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is situated in a plateau region about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the Chambal River and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Gwalior. Morena is an agricultural trade centre, and it is connected by rail and national highway with Gwalior and

Latin literature: The 12th to the 14th century: Bonaventura and John Pecham in England. Pecham’s Philomena praevia is an extended lyrical meditation that blends the story of the Redemption with the liturgical course of a single day.

Auguste Escoffier: …created the péche Melba (peach Melba) in honour of the famous singer Nellie Melba when she was staying there in 1893. In 1899 he moved to the Carlton Hotel, where he was to build a fabulous reputation for haute cuisine during the next 23 years; on one occasion Emperor…

Pechenegs, a seminomadic, apparently Turkic people who occupied the steppes north of the Black Sea (8th–12th century) and by the 10th century were in control of the lands between the Don and lower Danube rivers (after having driven the Hungarians out); they thus became a serious menace to

Pechenga, town, Murmansk oblast (region), northwestern European Russia. It lies at the head of Pechenga Bay on the Barents Sea coast. Dating from the 16th century, the town was in northern Finland between 1919 and 1940 and was the terminus of the Arctic Highway from the Gulf of Bothnia. It is

Anthony of Kiev: …for the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves), an institution that later acquired a reputation as the cradle of Russian monasticism. Reverting to his Athonite training, he sent to Constantinople (modern Istanbul) for architects to construct the new monastery complex at the mountain.

Kyiv: City layout: …of the centre is the Pecherskyy district, along the top of the riverbank. This district contains many of the principal buildings of the Ukrainian government, including the glass-domed palace, built in 1936–39, that houses the Supreme Council and the 10-story block that houses the Cabinet of Ministers. Nearby is the…

Georges Bizet: …Les Pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers; first performed 1863) nor La Jolie Fille de Perth (1867; The Fair Maid of Perth) had a libretto capable of eliciting or focusing the latent musical and dramatic powers that Bizet eventually proved to possess. The chief interest of Les Pêcheurs de…

Pechiney, French state-owned, multinational holding company formed in December 1971 as Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann SA after the merger of Pechiney SA, an aluminum producer established in 1855, and Société Ugine Kuhlmann, an aluminum maker and chemical company established in 1889. In 1982 the French

Pechiney, French state-owned, multinational holding company formed in December 1971 as Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann SA after the merger of Pechiney SA, an aluminum producer established in 1855, and Société Ugine Kuhlmann, an aluminum maker and chemical company established in 1889. In 1982 the French

Pechiney: Pechiney, who, after passing up earlier opportunities, began using the highly efficient electrolytic process to extract aluminum in 1897. Under his leadership the firm became informally but widely known as Pechiney as it steadily expanded its aluminum production. The Alais et Camargue firm survived World…

advanced ceramics: The Pechini process: A process related to the sol-gel route is the Pechini, or liquid mix, process (named after its American inventor, Maggio Pechini). An aqueous solution of suitable oxides or salts is mixed with an alpha-hydroxycarboxylic acid such as citric acid. Chelation, or the formation…

major industrial polymers: Polyethylene (PE): In 1899 a German chemist, Hans von Pechmann, observed the formation of a white precipitate during the autodecomposition of diazomethane in ether. In 1900 this compound was identified by the German chemists Eugen Bamberger and Friedrich Tschirner as polymethylene ([CH2]n), a polymer that is virtually identical to polyethylene. In 1935…

Pechora River, river in Russia, having a course of 1,124 miles (1,809 km). Rising in the northern Urals near Mount Koyp, it flows south in a narrow, deep valley, then west and north across an extensive, level basin to enter the Barents Sea by a delta. The Pechora drains an area of 124,500 square

Pechora Sea, sea lying to the north of European Russia, between Kolguyev Island to the west and the Yugorsky Peninsula to the east. To the north is Novaya Zemlya. The Pechora Sea is, in effect, a southeastern extension of the Barents Sea. Its average depth is 20 feet (6 m), but it reaches a maximum

Pechoro-Ilychsky Nature Reserve, natural area, set aside for research in the natural sciences, in the low-lying western foothills of the Northern Ural Mountains, near the confluence of the Ilych and Pechora rivers, in northwestern Russia. The reserve was established in 1930, mainly to protect the

Pechora Sea, sea lying to the north of European Russia, between Kolguyev Island to the west and the Yugorsky Peninsula to the east. To the north is Novaya Zemlya. The Pechora Sea is, in effect, a southeastern extension of the Barents Sea. Its average depth is 20 feet (6 m), but it reaches a maximum

Claudia Pechstein is a German speed skater whose nine Olympic medals (five gold, two silver, and two bronze) made her one of the sport’s most decorated Olympians. (Read Scott Hamilton’s Britannica essay on "Training for Olympic Gold.") Pechstein began figure skating at age 3 and switched to speed

Max Pechstein was a painter and printmaker, who was a leading member of the group of German Expressionist artists known as Die Brücke (“The Bridge”). He is best known for his paintings of nudes and landscapes. Pechstein began his artistic career working as an apprentice to a decorator from 1896 to

peck, unit of capacity in the U.S. Customary and the British Imperial Systems of measurement. In the United States the peck is used only for dry measure and is equal to 8 dry quarts, or 537.6 cubic inches (8.810 litres). In Great Britain the peck may be used for either liquid or dry measure and is

Mani Ratnam: …Tamil-language film Kannathil muthamittal (2002; A Peck on the Cheek) is set in war-torn Sri Lanka and is about an adopted girl searching for her birth mother.

pecking order, Basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. For groups of mammals (e.g., baboon, wolf) or other birds, the term “dominance hierarchy” is

Annie Smith Peck was an American mountain climber whose numerous ascents—often record-setting and some at an advanced age—made her a remarkable figure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Peck early developed remarkable physical strength, endurance, and courage through determined competition

Gregory Peck was a tall, imposing American actor with a deep, mellow voice, best known for conveying characters of honesty and integrity. A pharmacist’s son, Peck attended military school and San Diego State College before enrolling as a premed student at the University of California at Berkeley.

Gregory Peck was a tall, imposing American actor with a deep, mellow voice, best known for conveying characters of honesty and integrity. A pharmacist’s son, Peck attended military school and San Diego State College before enrolling as a premed student at the University of California at Berkeley.

American frontier: Characteristics of the first frontiers: … were settled is described inJohn Mason Peck’s A New Guide for Emigrants to the West (1836). He speaks of “three classes, like the waves of the ocean” that had rolled along one after the other. First came the pioneer who lived “largely upon the natural growth of vegetation” and…

Justin Peck is an American ballet dancer and choreographer who earned acclaim as a soloist but was better known for crafting ballets in which complex structures frame clearly articulated classical steps. He became resident choreographer of New York City Ballet (NYCB) in 2014. Peck also

Rufus Wheeler Peckham was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1896 to 1909. Peckham was educated in Albany and Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1859, after which he practiced law in Albany. In 1883 he was appointed a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and in

hand tool: Neolithic tools: …grinding, by a third, the pecking, or crumbling, method. In this procedure a point of the rock being worked was bruised by a hard hammerstone, the struck points crumbling into powder under relatively light but rapidly delivered blows. This technique allowed the manufacture of tools from numerous varieties of appropriate…

pecking order, Basic pattern of social organization within a flock of poultry in which each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank. For groups of mammals (e.g., baboon, wolf) or other birds, the term “dominance hierarchy” is

Sam Peckinpah was an American motion-picture director and screenwriter who was known for ultraviolent but often lyrical films that explored issues of morality and identity. During World War II, Peckinpah enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He later attended California State University, Fresno (B.A.,

Sam Peckinpah was an American motion-picture director and screenwriter who was known for ultraviolent but often lyrical films that explored issues of morality and identity. During World War II, Peckinpah enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He later attended California State University, Fresno (B.A.,

Seth Pecksniff, fictional character, an unctuous English architect whose insincere behaviour made the name Pecksniff synonymous with hypocrisy. He appears in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–44) by Charles

bald cypress: …water-resistance and is known as pecky, or peggy, cypress in the lumber trade when it contains small, attactive holes caused by a fungus. The tree is grown as an ornamental for its colourful fall foliage and can be cultivated far north of its native range.

Pechora River, river in Russia, having a course of 1,124 miles (1,809 km). Rising in the northern Urals near Mount Koyp, it flows south in a narrow, deep valley, then west and north across an extensive, level basin to enter the Barents Sea by a delta. The Pechora drains an area of 124,500 square

Pechora Sea, sea lying to the north of European Russia, between Kolguyev Island to the west and the Yugorsky Peninsula to the east. To the north is Novaya Zemlya. The Pechora Sea is, in effect, a southeastern extension of the Barents Sea. Its average depth is 20 feet (6 m), but it reaches a maximum

casu marzu: …cheese,” is an offshoot of pecorino sardo, a Sardinian cheese made from ewe’s milk. Its flavour and soft texture are similar to Gorgonzola. In spring a few cuts are made into the rind, and the larvae of a cheese fly known as Piophila casei are introduced to the cheese. The…

Italian literature: Popular literature and romances: …literature is represented by the Pecorone (c. 1378; “Dullard”), stories by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino after a pattern set by Boccaccio. In the same vein, Franco Sacchetti’s Trecentonovelle (c. 1390; “Three Hundred Short Stories”) provides colourful and lively descriptions of people and places.

Pecos, city, seat (1883) of Reeves county, southwestern Texas, U.S. It is situated in the Pecos River valley, some 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Odessa. It originated in 1881 as a station on the Texas and Pacific Railway and as a cow town at the intersection of old cattle and wagon trails. It

Pecos Bill, in American folklore, cowboy hero of the Pecos River region of Texas who was an exaggerated personification of Western stamina and values; his vivid exploits are analogous to those of the legendary giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan of the North Woods. Created by journalists, primarily Edward

Pecos River, river in the southwestern United States, rising in Mora County, north-central New Mexico, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and flowing about 926 miles (1,490 km) through eastern New Mexico and western Texas. It drains about 38,300 square miles (99,200 square km) before emptying into

Rio Grande: The economy: …Fort Quitman, Texas), and the Pecos River Compact (1948) between New Mexico and Texas, concerning the Pecos above Girvin, Texas. Essentially all of the average annual production of more than three million acre-feet in the upper Rio Grande (including the 60,000 acre-feet allotted to Mexico by treaty) is consumed within…

diplomacy: The development of the foreign ministry and embassies: …By 1737 another French diplomat-theorist, Antoine Pecquet, had declared diplomacy to be a sacred calling requiring discretion, patience, accurate reporting, and absolute honesty, themes that have been repeated through succeeding centuries.

differential gear: …in 1827 by a Frenchman, Onésiphore Pecqueur. It was used first on steam-driven vehicles and was a well-known device when internal-combustion engines appeared at the end of the 19th century.

Pécs, (“Five Churches”), city of county status and seat of Baranya megye (county), southwestern Hungary. It lies at the southern foot of the wooded Mecsek Mountains, 135 miles (220 km) south-southwest of Budapest. The site was occupied by the Roman town of Sopianae, the capital of the province of

Pécs: …the Turks but was renamed Janus Pannonius University of Pécs and reopened in 1922. The Medical University of Pécs (1951) is also situated in the city. The University of Pécs was reformed in 2000 by the merger of Janus Pannonius University, the Medical University of Pécs, and Illyés Gyula Teacher…

Pécs: …the Turks but was renamed Janus Pannonius University of Pécs and reopened in 1922. The Medical University of Pécs (1951) is also situated in the city. The University of Pécs was reformed in 2000 by the merger of Janus Pannonius University, the Medical University of Pécs, and Illyés Gyula Teacher…

photoreception: Concave mirror eyes: Scallops (Pecten) have about 50–100 single-chambered eyes in which the image is formed not by a lens but by a concave mirror. In 1965 British neurobiologist Michael F. Land (the author of this article) found that although scallop eyes have a lens, it is too weak…

pectin, any of a group of water-soluble carbohydrate substances that are found in the cell walls and intercellular tissues of certain plants. In the fruits of plants, pectin helps keep the walls of adjacent cells joined together. Immature fruits contain the precursor substance protopectin, which is

pectin, any of a group of water-soluble carbohydrate substances that are found in the cell walls and intercellular tissues of certain plants. In the fruits of plants, pectin helps keep the walls of adjacent cells joined together. Immature fruits contain the precursor substance protopectin, which is