medusa

See also: Medusa, médusa, Médusa, and Medúsa

English

A medusa (Chrysaora quinquecirrha)

Etymology

Transferative use of Medusa.

Noun

medusa (plural medusas or medusae or medusæ)

1. (zoology) A jellyfish; specifically, a non-polyp form of individual cnidarians, consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. [from 18th c.]
   • 2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:

     Typically, what we think of as the jellyfish, the medusa, reproduces sexually, spawning sperm and eggs which, once fertilised, turn into sea anemone-like polyps, which attach themselves to the jellyfish’s bottom or other surfaces.

2. (pathology) Synonym of worm-star

Synonyms

• (non-polyp form of cnidarian): jelly, jellyfish

Derived terms

• medusafish
• medusal
• medusoid

Translations

cnidarian

• Bulgarian: меду́за (bg) f (medúza)
• Catalan: medusa (ca) f
• Czech: medúza (cs) f
• Dutch: medusa (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: meduzo
• Finnish: meduusa (fi)
• French: méduse (fr) f
• Galician: medusa (gl) f
• German: Meduse (de) f
• Greek: μέδουσα (el) f (médousa)
• Hungarian: medúza (hu) f
• Ido: meduzo (io)
• Ingrian: meduza
• Italian: medusa (it) f
• Latin: medūsa f (New Latin)
• Latvian: medūza f
• Lithuanian: medūzà f
• Macedonian: медуза f (meduza)
• Portuguese: medusa (pt) f, alforreca (pt) f, água-viva (pt) f
• Romanian: meduză (ro) f
• Russian: меду́за (ru) f (medúza)
• Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic: меду́за f
  • Latin: medúza (sh) f
• Slovak: medúza (sk) f
• Spanish: medusa (es) f
• Tamil: மெதூசா (metūcā)
• Ukrainian: меду́за f (medúza)
• Yiddish: מעדוזע f (meduze)

See also

• (cnidarian): jellyfish

References

• Medusa (biology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Jellyfish on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• amused, sea mud

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Medusa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [məˈðu.zə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [meˈðu.za]

Noun

medusa f (plural meduses)

1. jellyfish

Galician

Noun

medusa f (plural medusas)

1. jellyfish, medusa

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈdu.za/
• Rhymes: -uza
• Hyphenation: me‧dù‧sa

Noun

medusa f (plural meduse)

1. (animals) a jellyfish

Derived terms

• meduseo

Anagrams

• desuma

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /meˈdu.zɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /meˈdu.zɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /meˈdu.za/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɨˈdu.zɐ/ [mɨˈðu.zɐ]

• Hyphenation: me‧du‧sa

Noun

medusa f (plural medusas)

1. (zoology) medusa (non-polyp form of a cnidarian)

   Synonyms: (Brazil) água-viva, (Portugal) alforreca

Spanish

Etymology

From Medusa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈdusa/ [meˈð̞u.sa]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -usa
• Syllabification: me‧du‧sa

Noun

medusa f (plural medusas)

1. jellyfish

   Synonyms: (Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Southern Spain, Venezuela) aguamala, (Argentina, Southern Spain and Canary Islands, Uruguay) aguaviva, (Peru) malagua, aguamar

Derived terms

• cabeza de medusa

Further reading

• “medusa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10