zooid

[zoh-oid]Biology

noun

any organic body or cell capable of spontaneous movement and of an existence more or less apart from or independent of the parent organism.

any animal organism or individual capable of separate existence, and produced by fission, gemmation, or some method other than direct sexual reproduction.

any one of the recognizably distinct individuals or elements of a compound or colonial animallike organism, whether or not detached or detachable.

adjective

Also zo·oi·dal. pertaining to, resembling, or of the nature of an animal.

Origin of zooid

First recorded in 1850–55; zo- + -oid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for zooid

Historical Examples of zooid

The asexual stock, after budding off one asexual zooid, elongates again and buds off a second zooid.
The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume II (of 4)
Francis Maitland Balfour
Mr. Busk, however, does not know of any gradations now existing between a zooid and an avicularium.
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin
From this bud is developed the first zooid and first serial theca of the colony.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3
Various
A, Schematic longitudinal section through a zooid and bud of Stylophora digitata.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2
Various

British Dictionary definitions for zooid

zooid

noun

any independent animal body, such as an individual of a coelenterate colony

a motile cell or body, such as a gamete, produced by an organism

Derived Formszooidal, adjective

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

Medicine definitions for zooid

zooid

[zō′oid′]

n.

An organic cell or organized body that has independent movement within a living organism, especially a motile gamete such as a spermatozoon.

An independent animallike organism produced asexually, as by budding or fission.

One of the distinct individuals forming a colonial animal such as a coral.