Plas*mo"di*um (?), n.; pl. Plasmodia (#). [NL. See Plasma.]

1. Biol.

A jellylike mass of free protoplasm, without any union of ameboid cells, and endowed with life and power of motion.

2. Zool.

A naked mobile mass of protoplasm, formed by the union of several amebalike young, and constituting one of the stages in the life cycle of Mycetozoa and other low organisms.

<-- (a) a genus of microorganisms (b) an individual malarial parasite cell. -->

 

© Webster 1913.