Meanings
plural choanoflagellates
- biologyAny of a group of flagellate protozoa, of the class Choanoflagellatea, thought to be the closest unicellular ancestors of animals.
Choanoflagellates are plankton: tiny protozoans that feed on even tinier bacteria.
2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 301 more example
Detailed studies showed that the sponge and the cells of a protist called a choanoflagellate used a different set of genes and proteins to build similar-looking structures.
2017 August 1, Douglas Fox, “Aliens in our midst”, in Aeon, archived from the original on 26 May 2019Synonyms: craspedophyte
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of a group of flagellate protozoa, of the class Choanoflagellatea, thought to be the closest unicellular ancestors of animals.
Origin
- Englishchoano-
- Latinflagellō
- Latinflagellātu
- Englishflagellate
- Englishchoanoflagellate
From choano- + flagellate.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 領鞭毛蟲 /领鞭毛虫
- 領鞭毛蟲 /领鞭毛虫 (lǐngbiānmáochóng)any of a group of flagellate protozoa
Finnish kaulussiimaeliö
- kaulussiimaeliöany of a group of flagellate protozoa
Polish wiciowiec kołnierzykowy
- wiciowiec kołnierzykowyany of a group of flagellate protozoa
Portuguese coanoflagelado
- coanoflageladoany of a group of flagellate protozoa
Spanish coanoflagelado
- coanoflageladoany of a group of flagellate protozoa
Cite this entry
choanoflagellate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choanoflagellate
“choanoflagellate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choanoflagellate. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “choanoflagellate,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choanoflagellate.
Source: choanoflagellate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.