Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Echinoderm
/ɪˈkaɪnəˌdɜːrm/noun
A marine animal of the group that includes starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.
The Greek roots
ἐχῖνος
echînos
hedgehog, sea urchin
δέρμα
dérma
skin
Literally: “spiny skin”
The story of the word
ἐχῖνος named both the hedgehog and the sea urchin, for reasons nobody has to explain. Add δέρμα, skin, and you have the phylum: animals built on five-fold symmetry, with a water-driven hydraulic system instead of muscle-and-bone limbs. Echinacea, the coneflower, is named for the prickly disc at its centre.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
echinaceaepidermispachydermdermatology
In a sentence
Cut an echinoderm in half and you may get two, which complicated early attempts to control starfish.