echinoderm
pronunciation
How to pronounce echinoderm in British English:
UK [e'kaɪnədɜ:m]
How to pronounce echinoderm in American English:
US [e'kaɪnəˌdɜm]
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- Noun:
- marine invertebrates with tube feet and calcite-covered five-part radially symmetrical bodies
Word Origin
- echinoderm (n.)
- 1834, from Modern Latin Echinodermata, name of the phylum that includes starfish and sea urchins, from Latinized form of Greek ekhinos "sea urchin," originally "porcupine, hedgehog" (see echidna) + derma (genitive dermatos) "skin" (see derma); so called from its spiky shell. Related: Echinodermal.
Example
- 1. “ echinoid : an echinoderm of the class Echinoidea , which includes the sand dollars and sea urchins . ”
- 2. echinoderm having a flexible sausage-shaped body , tentacles surrounding the mouth and tube feet ; free-living mud feeders : sea cucumbers .
- 3. The echinoderm biomass in this area ( 6.18g / m ~ 2 ) is higher than that in the South China Sea and the East China Sea .