syncytium

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: syn=cyt=i=um

CIDE DICTIONARY

syncytium, n. [NL., from Gr. together + a hollow vessel.].

•  Tissue in which the cell or partition walls are wholly wanting and the cell bodies fused together, so that the tissue consists of a continuous mass of protoplasm in which nuclei are imbedded, as in ordinary striped muscle.  [1913 Webster]
•  The ectoderm of a sponge.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

syncytium, n. (pl. syncytia) Biol. a mass of cytoplasm with several nuclei, not divided into separate cells.

Derivative

syncytial adj.

Etymology

formed as SYN- + -CYTE + -IUM