echino-

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a combining form meaning “prickly; spiny,” used in the formation of compound words: echinulate.

a combining form representing echinoderm in compound words: echinoid.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Also called echin-.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use echino- in a sentence

With what pleasure I counted the yellow blossoms of the echino-cactus!
Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests|J. J. von Tschudi
Ars varia vulpis, ast una echino maxima—The fox has many tricks; the hedgehog only one, and that greatest of all.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources|James Wood
In crossing the table-top, we stumbled upon huge echino-cacti, that grew over the ground like ant-hills or gigantic bee-hives.
The War Trail|Mayne Reid

British Dictionary definitions for echino-

echino-

before a vowel echin-

combining form

indicating spiny or pricklyechinoderm

Word Origin for echino-

from New Latin, via Latin from Greek ekhinos sea urchin, hedgehog

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012