noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The gelatinous matrix within a sponge, filling the space between the external pinacoderm and the internal choanoderm.

Etymology

From meso- (“middle”) + Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood, timber, matter”) (whence English hyle).

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