Meanings
plural ectomorphs
- Someone with a lean, only slightly muscular body
Also there was a woman I hadn't met, a chain-smoking French ectomorph whose job it was to make sense of records of public spending in the Ministry of Finance.
1990, Robert Klitgaard, Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience with Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa - bodybuildingTheoretical body type in which a person has a high metabolism. Such a person can easily maintain a low fat physique, but does not add muscle or body weight easily.
The ectomorph body type is characterized by narrow shoulders and hips and a lean build. Its naturally fast metabolism makes it easy for ectomorphs to lose or maintain body fat levels but more difficult to build muscle.
2025 February 6, Laura Schober, “Everything To Know About Having an Ectomorph Body Type”, in Health
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Derived from ectoderm + -morph from William Herbert Sheldon. Equivalent to ecto- + -morph.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French ectomorphe
- ectomorphesomeone with a lean body
Russian эктомо́рф
- эктомо́рф (ektomórf)someone with a lean body
Cite this entry
ectomorph. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ectomorph
“ectomorph.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ectomorph. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ectomorph,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ectomorph.
Source: ectomorph on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.