Jellyfish
noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An almost transparent aquatic animal; any one of the acalephs, especially one of the larger species, having a jellylike appearance. countable, uncountable
"A recent study focused on the enzymatic and cytotoxic functions of jellyfish metalloproteases and identified diverse proteolytic effects including gelatinolytic, caseinolytic, and fibrinolytic activities."
- 2 any of numerous usually marine and free-swimming coelenterates that constitute the sexually reproductive forms of hydrozoans and scyphozoans wordnet
- 3 An almost transparent aquatic animal; any one of the acalephs, especially one of the larger species, having a jellylike appearance.; Any of various species of cnidarians in the subphylum Medusozoa, including box jellyfish (class Cubozoa), true jellyfish (class Scyphozoa), stalked jellyfish (class Staurozoa), and certain hydrozoans. countable, uncountable
- 4 large siphonophore having a bladderlike float and stinging tentacles wordnet
- 5 An almost transparent aquatic animal; any one of the acalephs, especially one of the larger species, having a jellylike appearance.; Any of various species of cnidarians in the subphylum Medusozoa, including box jellyfish (class Cubozoa), true jellyfish (class Scyphozoa), stalked jellyfish (class Staurozoa), and certain hydrozoans.; The medusa phase of these animals rather than a younger life stage. countable, especially, uncountable
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- 6 An almost transparent aquatic animal; any one of the acalephs, especially one of the larger species, having a jellylike appearance.; A ctenophore, a member of the phylum Ctenophora (comb jellies). countable, uncountable
- 7 A sudoku technique involving possible cell locations for a digit, or pair, or triple, in uniquely four rows and four columns only. This allows for the elimination of candidates around the grid. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"These creatures evolved from simpler organisms like jellyfish."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelō ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin -āta Early Medieval Latin gelāta Old French geleebor. Middle English gele English jelly Proto-Indo-European *péysks Proto-Germanic *fiskaz Proto-West Germanic *fisk Old English fisċ Middle English fisch English fish English jellyfish From jelly + fish. From being an aquatic creature (i.e. fish) that is gelatinous (“jelly”). Despite the name, jellyfish are not biologically classified as fish. The term appeared in the mid-19th century and displaced various older terms such as sea jelly (now much less common), blubber/sea blubber, nettle/sea nettle (both now referring to specific jellyfish species), and, in scientific literature, medusa.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.