zoon

See also: zoön and zo-on

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

First adopted by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (see 1864 quotation): from New Latin zōon, from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zôion, “animal”).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

zoon (plural zoa or zoons)

  1. (biology)[1] An animal which is the sole product of a single egg.
  2. (biology)[1] Any one of the perfectly developed individuals of a compound animal.

Quotations
  • 1864, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology, page 205, § 73 (1868 reprint; D. Appleton & Co.)
    [… A] zoological individual is constituted either by any such single animal as a mammal or bird, which may properly claim the title of a zoon, or by any such group of animals as the numerous Medusæ that have been developed from the same egg, which are to be severally distinguished as zooids.

Antonyms
  • (an animal which is the sole product of a single egg): zooid

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for zoon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

References
  1. “‖zoon, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sōne, from Old Dutch suno, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz, from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /zoːn/
  • audio(file)
  • Homophone: zo'n
  • Rhymes: -oːn

Noun

zoon m (plural zoons or zonen, diminutive zoontje n)

  1. son
    Mijn zoon wil met de jouwe spelen.
    My son wants to play with yours.

Descendants

See also

Anagrams

Esperanto

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

zoon

  1. accusative singular of zoo

Limburgish

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sōne, from Old Dutch suno, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz, from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús.

Noun

zoon m (plural zeuns)

  1. son
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