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

The name zoophyte comes from two Greek words—zoön, an animal, and phyton, a plant—and therefore has the literal signification of animal-plant.

From Harper's Young People, April 13, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

Certainly in this zoophyte such appeared to be the case.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles

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

Its splendour glows and its influence grows As Nature's slow work appears, From the zoophyte small to the Lords of all, Through kalpas and crores of years.

From The Astral Plane Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena by Leadbeater, C. W. (Charles Webster)

Chance had thrown me just by the most precious specimens of the zoophyte.

From Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Verne, Jules