gillless

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

gill +‎ -less

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

gillless (not comparable)

  1. Lacking gills.
    Some salamanders are both gillless and lungless as adults, relying solely on cutaneous respiration to breathe.
    • 1982, L. Patrick Coyle., The World Encyclopedia of Food:
      ...which closely resembles the golden chanterelle, except that it is white and slightly larger; the gillless chanterelle...
    • 1992, J.V. Ward., Aquatic Insect Ecology:
      However, in Cloeon evidence from experiments with gilled and gillless nymphs suggests that the primary, perhaps sole, function of gill movement is to reduce...
    • 2002, M. Prakash, C. K. Arora., Encyclopædia of Animal Phisiology:
      ...borne by four branchial arches, and the fifth arch is gillless...

Usage notes[edit]

Three letters are rarely grouped together in English (only in compound words such as headmistressship and skulllike), and when so, they are typically hyphenated to avoid the triplet (gill-less).

Translations[edit]