Resembling or relating to chitin in structure or composition; somewhat similar to chitin but not entirely chitin.
From chitin plus -oid (meaning 'resembling' or 'similar to'). The -oid suffix comes from Greek eidos 'form' or 'appearance.'
The -oid suffix is nature's way of saying 'kind of like'—so 'chitinoid' means something that looks and acts chitinous but isn't quite the real thing, useful when evolution creates experimental variations!
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