ootheca

noun

oo·the·ca | \ ˌō-ə-ˈthē-kə

How to pronounce ootheca (audio)

\

plural oothecae\ ˌō-ə-ˈthē-(ˌ)kē

How to pronounce oothecae (audio)

, -(ˌ)sē \

Definition of ootheca

: a firm-walled and distinctive egg case (as of a cockroach)

Other Words from ootheca Example Sentences Learn More about ootheca

Keep scrolling for more

Examples of ootheca in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Behind the female’s bottomless appetite is the extraordinary size of her egg case, or ootheca, a frothy proteinous mass studded with up to 400 eggs that can amount to half her body weight. — Natalie Angier, New York Times, "Birds Beware: The Praying Mantis Wants Your Brain," 22 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ootheca.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about ootheca

Dictionary Entries near ootheca

Statistics for ootheca

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for ootheca

The first known use of ootheca was circa 1856

See more words from the same year

WORD OF THE DAY

peer-to-peer

using a distributed computer network

Test Your Vocabulary

Time Traveler Quiz: Which Word Came First?

Which came first?

sarcastic snarky

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ