Word.ws English Dictionary

zoëa

/zoʊˈi.ə/

zoëa noun: a larval stage of certain decapod crustaceans, especially of decapods such as crabs and certain Anomura, also called the copepod stage, characterized by spines on the carapace and rudimentary thoracic and abdominal limbs.

zoëa: a larval stage of certain decapod crustaceans, especially of decapods such as crabs and certain...
Image: Семенов Александр (Alexander Semenov), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

zoëa (plural zoëas or zoëae)

  1. A larval stage of certain decapod crustaceans, especially of decapods such as crabs and certain Anomura, also called the copepod stage, characterized by spines on the carapace and rudimentary thoracic and abdominal limbs.

Forms of zoëa

pluralzoëas
pluralzoëae
alternative formzoaea
alternative formzoea
alternative formzooea

Origin of zoëa

From New Latin zōaea, zōēa, from Ancient Greek ζωή (zōḗ, “life”) (compare ζῷον (zōîon)).

Questions about zoëa

What does zoëa mean?
Zoëa means a larval stage of certain decapod crustaceans, especially of decapods such as crabs and certain Anomura, also called the copepod stage, characterized by spines on the carapace and rudimentary thoracic and abdominal limbs.
What part of speech is zoëa?
Zoëa is a noun.
How do you pronounce zoëa?
Zoëa is pronounced /zoʊˈi.ə/.
What is the plural of zoëa?
The plural of zoëa is zoëas.

Words near zoëa in the dictionary

  1. zoysiagrass
  2. zoysiagrasses
  3. zoysias
  4. Zoziv
  5. Zoë
  6. zoëa
  7. zoëae
  8. zoëas
  9. zoö-
  10. zoöchemistry
  11. zoöchlorella

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: zoëa (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “zoëa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zo%C3%ABa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.