branchia

[brang-kee-uh]

noun

Zoology.

plural

branchiae 

1. a gill.

branchia

/ ˈbræŋkɪə /

noun

1. a gill in aquatic animals

Other Word Forms

• branchiate adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of branchia¹

1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin branchia “gill” (plural branchiae ), from Greek: bránchia “gills,” plural of bránchion “fin”

Example Sentences

Why none of us started specialising branchiae I do not know, but feel that would have been the proper sort of breathing apparatus for such an atmosphere.

From Project Gutenberg

Gills or branchiae may be developed by parts of an appendage becoming thin-walled and vascular and either expanded into a thin lamella or ramified.

From Project Gutenberg

Visceral mass and shell sinistral; inferior pallial lobe very prominent, and transformed into a branchia.

From Project Gutenberg

It is probable that the Silurian scorpion was an aquatic animal, and that its respiratory lamellae were still projecting from the surface of the body to serve as branchiae.

From Project Gutenberg

The appendages of the body are reduced to branchiae, present in certain forms.

From Project Gutenberg