Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

dioecious

/daɪ̯ˈiːʃəs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.91 in modern English

Syllables: dioe-cious
IPA: /daɪ̯ˈiːʃəs/

12

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having the male and female reproductive organs on separate plants (of the same species) rather than different parts of the same plant.

adj

Having two distinct sexes.

Example Sentences

"Most plants are hermaphrodite, even if some of them (hazel, for example) keep their male and female flowers apart. But some plants are dioecious, i.e. they have separate sexes. Some of our most familiar wild plants, such as nettle and red campion, are dioecious. If your holly never has any berries, that's probably because it's a male."

Etymology

From di- + -oecious.

Word Breakdown

Prefix: di
Suffix: oecious

Inflected Forms

diaecious (alternative) diœcious (alternative) dioicous (alternative)

Derived Forms

dioeciously dioeciousness gynodioecious subdioecious

Frequently Paired Words

dioecism dioecy

Synonyms

gonochoristic dioecian

Antonyms

monoecious synoecious

Questions

How do you pronounce dioecious?: The recorded pronunciation is /daɪ̯ˈiːʃəs/.
What does dioecious mean?: Having the male and female reproductive organs on separate plants (of the same species) rather than different parts of the same plant.
Where does dioecious come from?: From di- + -oecious.

How to pronounce dioecious

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dioecious”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/daɪ̯ˈiːʃəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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