echiuroid

[ek-ee-yoor-oid]

noun

1. any wormlike invertebrate of the phylum Echiuroidea, found in sand and mud of tropical and subtropical seas, having at the mouth a ciliated, often elongated prostomium.

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the Echiuroidea.

Word History and Origins

Origin of echiuroid¹

1885–90; < New Latin Echiuroidea; echiurid, -oidea

Example Sentences

The female has the normal Echiuroid structure, but the male is reduced to a minute, flattened, planarian-like organism, which passes its life usually in the company of two or three others in a special recess of the nephridia of the female.

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