Standard Lemma guide

zooxanthella

noun · 2 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /zuːzanˈθɛlə/
  • UK: /zəʊəzanˈθɛlə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛlə

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of the yellow pigmentary particles, or minute corpuscles of yellow coloring matter, found in certain radiolarians.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of various typically yellow-brown dinoflagellates (originally grouped as genus Zooxanthella) now assigned to the genera Symbiodinium and Amphidinium, notably found in coral reefs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From (deprecated) genus name Zooxanthella, from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zōîon, “animal”) + ξανθός (xanthós, “yellow”) + -ella.