Zoion

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A living organism characterized by voluntary movement and consumption of organic matter for energy within the animal kingdom
2. Any creature capable of locomotion and responsive behavior, typically consuming other organisms for sustenance and exhibiting complex bodily functions
3. A member of a broad group of multicellular organisms distinguished by their movement ability and heterotrophic nutrition, encompassing diverse species from simple to complex forms

Etymology: Ancient Greek "zōion" meant "living being" or "little living creature," and it was built from "zōē" (life) with a diminutive suffix. Its root is the verb "zaein," "to live," which also gave Greek a whole family of words about life. The Greeks used it broadly, so it could cover humans, gods and beasts alike, a sense that survives in the English adjective "zoic," meaning relating to animal life. The word was then taken into scientific Latin and modern European languages as a term for animals as a whole, which is why it sits at the heart of the English word "zoology," the study of animals, coined from "zōion" plus "-logia." It entered English through this learned scientific route, not through everyday speech, so you will meet it mostly in technical contexts.

Synonyms: animal, organism, creature, living being

Antonyms: plant, inanimate, nonliving