zoon

• zoön

First adopted by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (see 1864 quotation): from New Latin zōon, from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zōîon, “animal”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): (Received Pronunciation) /ˈzəʊɒn/^[1]

• Audio (Southern England):

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zoon (plural zoa or zoons)

1. (biology) A distinct organism.
2. (biology) Any individual produced from a single egg.
3. (biology) The individuals collectively produced from a single egg, also called a compound animal.
4. (biology, uncommon) Any of the individuals of a compound organism.
5. (biology, rare) Zooid.

In 1872, William and Robert Chambers in The Chambers Dictionary defined the term as also referring to the compound animal that is constituted by a group of zooids.^[2]

• 1864, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology, page 205, § 73 (1868 reprint; D. Appleton & Co.)

  [… A] zoological individual is constituted either by any such single animal as a mammal or bird, which may properly claim the title of a zoon, or by any such group of animals as the numerous Medusæ that have been developed from the same egg, which are to be severally distinguished as zooids.

• (antonym(s) of “an animal which is the sole product of a single egg”): zooid

• compound animal

• “zoon”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• nooz, zono-

• zeun (dialectal)

From Middle Dutch sōne, from Old Dutch suno, from Proto-West Germanic *sunu, from Proto-Germanic *sunuz, from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús.

• IPA^(key): /zoːn/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: zoon
• Homophone: zo'n
• Rhymes: -oːn

zoon m (plural zoons or zonen, diminutive zoontje n)

1. son

   Mijn zoon gaat volgend jaar naar de universiteit. ― My son is going to the university next year.

   Ze heeft drie zonen en een dochter. ― She has three sons and one daughter.

   Haar zoontje speelde in de tuin met zijn vriendjes. ― Her little son was playing in the garden with his friends.

• Afrikaans: seun
• Jersey Dutch: zőn
• Negerhollands: soon, sön
• Skepi Creole Dutch: son

• dochter

• ozon

• Audio:

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zoon

1. accusative singular of zoo

• Sonne (Eupen)
• Suohn (Krefeld)

From Middle Dutch sōne, from Old Dutch suno, from Proto-West Germanic *sunu.

zoon m (plural zeuns)

1. son

zoon

1. indefinite plural of zoo

• soon

From Middle English sone, from Old English sōna, from Proto-West Germanic *sān(ō).

• IPA^(key): /zuːn/, /suːn/

zoon

1. soon

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 82