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a bristlelike appendage of a plant, especially on the glumes of grasses.
such appendages collectively, as those forming the beard of wheat, barley, etc.
any similar bristle.
Historical Examples

The fourth glume is narrow linear, hyaline with two very fine lobes at the apex with an awn between, 7/16 inch long.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

The fourth glume is the flattened base of the awn, epaleate.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

Two follicles, sharp-pointed, channeled, containing many imbricated seeds each with an awn.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines T. H. Pardo de Tavera

In the locality this was called “picklin in his awn poke neuk.”
Lives of the Engineers Samuel Smiles

The second glume is also coriaceous, narrowed to an awn but has broad hyaline margins towards the base.
A Handbook of Some South Indian Grasses Rai Bahadur K. Ranga Achariyar

The awn is inserted between the two teeth of the palea or just below.
Grasses H. Marshall Ward

awn brown, twisted and bent, arising from the middle, about 30 mm.
Grasses H. Marshall Ward

This awn is sensitive to changes in the moisture of the air.
The Romance of Plant Life G. F. Scott Elliot

The awn or beard is merely an elongation of the palea inferior.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 4 Various

It wur hard to gie up my awn hearthstun, but I thowt I could do that!
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

noun
any of the bristles growing from the spikelets of certain grasses, including cereals
n.

“bristly fibers on grain of plants,” c.1300, from Old Norse ögn, from Proto-Germanic *agano (cf. Old English egenu, Old High German agana, German Ahne, Gothic ahana), from PIE *ak-ona- (cf. Sanskrit asani- “arrowhead,” Greek akhne “husk of wheat,” Latin acus “chaff,” Lithuanian akuotas “beard, awn”); suffixed form of PIE root *ak- “sharp” (see acrid).
awn
(ôn)

A slender, bristlelike appendage found on the spikelets of many grasses.