ˌälə̇gōˈkēd.ə, əˌligəˈ- noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from olig- + Greek chaitē long hair — more at chaeta
: a class or in former classifications an order of Chaetopoda comprising hermaphroditic terrestrial and aquatic annelids distinguished from the polychaetes by possession of compact localized gonads and simple direct life histories without formation of a trochophore and by lack of parapodia and head specialization — see archioligochaeta , neoligochaeta