noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any 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."

Synonyms

All synonyms

craspedophytecraspedophyte

Example

More examples

"Choanoflagellates are plankton: tiny protozoans that feed on even tinier bacteria."

Etymology

From choano- + flagellate.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.