Standard Lemma guide

planula

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈplæn.jʊ.lə/
  • General-American: /ˈplæn.jə.lə/

1

noun

Meaning 1

In embryonic development, a vesicle filled with fluid, formed from the morula by the divergence of its cells in such a manner as to give rise to a central space, around which the cells arrange themselves as an envelope; an embryonic form intermediate between the morula and gastrula.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The larva of a hydrozoan, which is free-swimming and covered in cilia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the flat ciliated free-swimming larva of hydrozoan coelenterates

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hydrozoan, hydroid

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plānula, diminutive of plāna (“plane”).