Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2023 January 31

= January 31 =

Question about grains
under varieties section in whole grain link below What do the brackets mean? why are they there, when they're put next to whole grain sources, for example: Wheat (spelt, emmer, farro, einkorn, Kamut, durum)

Rice (black, brown, red, and other colored rice varieties)

and the others etc

Barley (hulled and dehulled but not pearl)

Whole grain 118.210.107.193 (talk) 14:16, 31 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Those are varieties of the named grain. So, for example, spelt and emmer are varieties of wheat, while black rice is a variety of rice.  -- Jayron 32 14:18, 31 January 2023 (UTC)


 * [Edit conflict. NB: OP changed question, about wheat only, after I wrote my answer] They are enclosing a list of various kinds of wheat. It's just a more concise way of saying ". . . wheat, whose varieties include spelt, emmer, [etc.]". This is a very common usage in English-language writing.
 * (We could get into a debate about shades of meaning between "kind", "variety", "species" and the very complicated genetics of wheat, but that would be a side issue to the question. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.221.194.253 (talk) 14:20, 31 January 2023 (UTC)