zooid

[ zoh-oid ]

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.

adjective

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

zooid

/ 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

Derived Forms

• zoˈoidal, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of zooid¹

First recorded in 1850–55; zo- + -oid

Example Sentences

What looks like an individual Velella velella is actually a colony of teeny multicellular animals, or zooids, each with their own function, that come together to make a single organism.

From Los Angeles Times

Like a coral reef, it is composed of individual parts, known as zooids, which perform specialized functions.

From New York Times

Although they look, behave and move around like individual organisms, siphonophores are actually floating colonies made up of tiny multicellular organisms called zooids that are attached to one another and cannot survive independently.

From Nature

Each siphonophore is a colony of individual zooids, clusters of cells that clone themselves thousands of times to produce an extended, stringlike body.

From New York Times

Each siphonophore is made up of many little "zooids," reports LiveScience.

From Fox News