Mesozoan

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tiny, simple parasitic sea creature belonging to a small group of invertebrates that live inside the bodies of marine animals
2. Any of a small group of minute, wormlike marine parasites whose simple body plan places them between protozoans and more complex animals
3. A microscopic marine organism of a primitive parasitic phylum, typically found living within the tissues of cephalopods and other sea creatures

Etymology: "Mesozoan" is a technical coinage built from the scientific name of a group of tiny, simple animals. The group name "Mesozoa" was formed from Greek roots: "mesos," meaning "middle" or "intermediate," and "zoon," meaning "animal." The name reflects the group's position as organisms thought to sit between the most basic single-celled life and more complex multicellular animals. The suffix "-an" is a common English ending that turns a noun into an adjective or noun meaning "belonging to" or "relating to," as in "Darwinian" or "Lutheran." A mesozoan is therefore an animal of the Mesozoa, or something relating to that group. Because the word is a modern scientific formation, it was built deliberately from classical elements rather than arising through ordinary speech over centuries.