zoophyte

American  

[zoh-uh-fahyt] / ˈzoʊ əˌfaɪt /

noun

1. any of various invertebrate animals resembling a plant, as a coral or a sea anemone.

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zoophyte British  

/ ˌzəʊəˈfɪtɪk, ˈzəʊəˌfaɪt /

noun

1. any animal resembling a plant, such as a sea anemone

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Other Word Forms

• zoophytic adjective
• zoophytical adjective

Etymology

Origin of zoophyte

1615–25; < New Latin zōophyton < Greek zōióphyton. See zoo-, -phyte

Example Sentences

Yes, my dear, and we’ll keep him for your aquarium; as well as some new sea-anemones and another zoophyte I see here, too.

From Bob Strong's Holidays Adrift in the Channel by Greene, John B.

In one zoophyte the head itself was fixed, but the lower jaw free: in another it was replaced by a triangular hood, with beautifully-fitted trap-door, which evidently answered to the lower mandible.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles

We may consider the polypi in a zoophyte, or the buds in a tree, as cases where the division of the individual has not been completely effected.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles

How useful to the crab, then, to have its appearance cloaked by a growth of innocent seaweed, or sponge, or zoophyte.

From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by Thomson, J. Arthur

So through every scale, from the zoophyte to the warm-blooded whale, the sea teems with life, out of which fewer links have been dropped than from sub-aërial life.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 23, February, 1873 by Various