A small, usually unicellular body produced asexually by certain algae and fungi that can develop into a new individual.
From Greek gonos (generation, seed) + idion (diminutive suffix, meaning small). First used in botanical and mycological terminology in the 19th century.
In some algae, gonidia are like microscopic escape pods—each cell can float away and start a whole new colony without needing another organism to reproduce with.
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