actinal
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to the side or surface around the mouth in an animal that has radial symmetry such as a starfish.
adj
Pertaining to the axis of rotational symmetry in radiate animals.
Example Sentences
- "The so-called mouth is always placed at one of these poles, and from it radiate the most prominent organs, in consequence of which I have called this side of the body the oral or actinal area ..."
- "[Professor Agassiz] gives the names of two axes of the animals; that around which the motion of the animal occurs is the actinal axis ..."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀκτίς, ἀκτῖν- (aktís, aktîn-, “ray”) + -al. The usage was coined by Louis Agassiz (See quotations below.).