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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

ectomorph en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɛktəʊmɔːf/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • /ˈɛktəmɔːɹf/ (US)
  • (US) audio
  • /ˈɛktoʊmɔːɹf/ (US)

Etymology

Derived from ectoderm + -morph from William Herbert Sheldon. Equivalent to ecto- + -morph.

Meanings

  1. Someone with a lean, only slightly muscular body
    • Also there was a woman I hadn't met, a chain-smoking French ectomorph whose job it was to make sense of records of public spending in the Ministry of Finance. 1990, Robert Klitgaard, Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience with Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa:
  2. Theoretical body type in which a person has a high metabolism. Such a person can easily maintain a low fat physique, but does not add muscle or body weight easily.
    • The ectomorph body type is characterized by narrow shoulders and hips and a lean build. Its naturally fast metabolism makes it easy for ectomorphs to lose or maintain body fat levels but more difficult to build muscle. 2025 February 6, Laura Schober, “Everything To Know About Having an Ectomorph Body Type”, in Health:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
ectomorphs Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

ectomorphy · ectomorphic

Relateds

mesomorph · endomorph

Synonyms

hard gainer

Translations (2)

ru эктомо́рф (someone with a lean body) · fr ectomorphe (someone with a lean body)

wikipedia: William Herbert Sheldon