BRANCHIA (branchiae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: branchiae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does branchia mean? 

• BRANCHIA (noun)
  The noun BRANCHIA has 1 sense:

1. respiratory organ of aquatic animals that breathe oxygen dissolved in water

  Familiarity information: BRANCHIA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BRANCHIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Respiratory organ of aquatic animals that breathe oxygen dissolved in water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

branchia; gill

Hypernyms ("branchia" is a kind of...):

respiratory organ (any organ involved in the process of respiration)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "branchia"):

ctenidium (comb-like respiratory structure serving as the gill of certain mollusks)

ceras (one of the often brightly colored and branching hornlike structures on the back of the nudibranch (and other related mollusks) that serve as gills)

external gill (occurs in some mollusks and in tadpoles and other immature amphibians)

Derivation:

branchial (of or relating to gills (or to parts of the body derived from embryonic gills))