noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of many annelid worms, of the class Polychaeta, such as the lugworm; they have a segmented body with pairs of bristles on each segment.
2. 2
   chiefly marine annelids possessing both sexes and having paired appendages (parapodia) bearing bristles wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bristle wormpolychaetepolychaetepolychaete wormpolychete worm

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “many”) + χαίτη (khaítē, “chaeta”), equivalent to poly- + chaeta.

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