Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

inquiline

/ˈɪŋkwɪlaɪn/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: in-quiline
IPA: /ˈɪŋkwɪlaɪn/

18

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, gall, or dwelling place of an animal of another species.

noun

An organism that lives within a reservoir of water collected in the hollow of a plant stem or leaf.

Example Sentences

"The other study[…]involved the larvae of the caterpillar Maculinea rebeli, an inquiline of Myrmica schenki."
"Queens of socially parasitic inquiline ants reproduce by laying eggs in the colonies of other species."
"A reproductive female inquiline gains access to a host nest and usually kills the resident queen."
"Captured prey also constitute the resource base for a community of inquiline bacteria, protozoa, and invertebrates that inhabit the water-filled pitchers. For at least two of these inquilines (the pitcher-plant mosquito Wyeomyia smithii Coquillet and the pitcher-plant midge Metriocnemus knabi Coquillet) the availability of captured prey limits individual growth, and ultimately population growth[…]"
"The insect and other animal inhabitants of the pitchers, known collectively as the inquilines, may benefit the plants by breaking down prey and making nutrients available for plant absorption."

Etymology

From Latin inquilīnus (“tenant, lodger”). Doublet of inquilino.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: inquilīnus

Inflected Forms

inquilines (plural)

Derived Forms

inquilinism inquilinous

Questions

How do you pronounce inquiline?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɪŋkwɪlaɪn/.
What does inquiline mean?: An animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, gall, or dwelling place of an animal of another species.
Where does inquiline come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce inquiline

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