from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun Any of various annelid worms of the class Polychaeta, including mostly marine worms such as the lugworm, and characterized by fleshy paired appendages tipped with bristles on each body segment.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun Alternative spelling of polychete.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun chiefly marine annelids possessing both sexes and having paired appendages (parapodia) bearing bristles
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin Polychaeta, class name, from Greek polukhaitēs, with much hair : polu-, poly- + khaitē, long hair.]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word polychaete.
Examples
What ancient greek words does the word polychaete come from? has not helped any one else. icecream3
Forty-two percent of the diet of the black-footed penguin is small shoaling fish, with 25 species of fish, including anchovies (Engraulis capensis) and sardines (Sardinops sagax) being recorded, as well as 18 species of crustaceans, three species of squid, and one species of polychaete worm.
As part of the ANDEEP (Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity) Project, scientists “spotted 674 species of isopod (a diverse order of crustaceans), most of which had never previously been described; more than 200 polychaete species (marine worms), 81 of which were found to be new species; and 76 sponges, 17 of which had previously been unknown.”
As part of the ANDEEP (Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity) Project, scientists “spotted 674 species of isopod (a diverse order of crustaceans), most of which had never previously been described; more than 200 polychaete species (marine worms), 81 of which were found to be new species; and 76 sponges, 17 of which had previously been unknown.”
chained_bear commented on the word polychaete
Warning: A friend warned me if I clicked on this, I'd never go swimming again. I think he was right. Seen here.
April 9, 2009
reesetee commented on the word polychaete
I think this might belong on John's list.
I love that they named it Barry. :-)
April 9, 2009