actinal

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actinal

Where it comes from

From Ancient Greek ἀκτίς, ἀκτῖν- (aktís, aktîn-, “ray”) + -al. The usage was coined by Louis Agassiz (See quotations below.).

adjective

Pertaining to the side or surface around the mouth in an animal that has radial symmetry such as a starfish. The so-called mouth is always placed at one of these poles, and from it radiate the most prominent organs, in consequence of which I have called this side of the body the oral or actinal area ...
Opposite: abactinal
Pertaining to the axis of rotational symmetry in radiate animals. [Professor Agassiz] gives the names of two axes of the animals; that around which the motion of the animal occurs is the actinal axis ...

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MLA

"actinal." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/actinal. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

actinal. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/actinal

Chicago

"actinal." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/actinal.

BibTeX

@misc{actinal_2026,
  title = {actinal},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/actinal},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}