zooid

American  

[zoh-oid] / ˈzoʊ ɔɪd /

noun

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

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

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

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adjective

1. Also zooidal. pertaining to, resembling, or of the nature of an animal.

zooid British  

/ ˈzəʊɔɪd /

noun

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

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

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Other Word Forms

• zooidal
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of zooid

First recorded in 1850–55; zo- + -oid

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

zooid

In colonial corals a bud is always formed from the edge-zone, and this bud develops into a new zooid with its corallum.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

In Actinians the epithelio-muscular cells of the endoderm are crowded with yellow spherical bodies, which are unicellular plants or Algae, living symbiotically in the tissues of the zooid.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

Each Graptolite represents the common horny or chitinous investment or supporting structure of a colony of zooids, each tooth-like projection marking the position of the sheath or theca of an individual zooid.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

Alcyonaria.—In this sub-class the zooid has very constant anatomical characters, differing in some important respects from the Actinian zooid, which has been taken as a type.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

The zooid then is, as it were, moulded upon the corallum.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various

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