bladder worm
- noun
- Specialized
- The life cycle of a tapeworm includes a stage where it exists as a bladder worm in an intermediate host.
Examples
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The veterinarian explained that the cyst in the cow’s muscle was caused by a bladder worm.
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Humans can become infected with bladder worms by ingesting undercooked pork containing the larvae.
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The bladder worm is often found in fish.
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Some bladder worms can infect humans.
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The veterinarian explained that the cyst in the cow's muscle was caused by a bladder worm.
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Humans can become infected with bladder worms by ingesting undercooked pork containing the larvae.
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The life cycle of a tapeworm includes a stage where it exists as a bladder worm in an intermediate host.
Synonyms
A small fluid-filled young tapeworm that lives in the meat of pigs
Surface Forms
Morphology
bladder + worm
The compound is compositionally built from 'bladder' + 'worm' and a learner who knows those words would likely infer it denotes a worm associated with a bladder-like sac (i.e., a saclike or encysted form). However, the precise technical sense as an encysted larval stage is specialized medical/biological vocabulary and not fully predictable from everyday knowledge of the constituents, so it should be classed as partially transparent.
Etymology
Bladder worm gets its name from the way a young worm lives inside a small, round bladder-like sac in an animal's body. That's why the term refers to the 'cyst' or 'larva' stage of some tapeworms.