A lobe is a rounded part that sticks out from something larger, like a flap or bulge. Your ears have soft, fleshy lobes at the bottom where people sometimes wear earrings. Your brain has lobes too: large, rounded sections that handle different jobs like seeing, hearing, thinking, and moving your body.

The word appears in many contexts. Leaves on some plants have lobes, which are the rounded sections that make the leaf's edge look wavy instead of smooth. Think of an oak leaf with its distinctive bumpy outline: each bump is a lobe. The lungs in your chest have lobes, separate sections that help you breathe. Even the liver has lobes.

When doctors or scientists talk about lobes, they're usually describing natural divisions in an organ or body part. The frontal lobe of your brain, located behind your forehead, helps you plan, make decisions, and control your movements. The temporal lobes, on the sides of your head near your temples, process sounds and help you understand language and remember things.