the primordial outer layer of a young embryo before the segregation of the germ layers, capable of becoming the ectoderm and containing cells capable of becoming the mesoderm and endoderm; epiblast
Derived forms
ectoblastic
adjective
Word origin
[1860–65; ecto- + -blast]This word is first recorded in the period 1860–65. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: blind spot, institutionalism, metric system, monism, raider-blast is a suffix meaning “bud, sprout,” “embryo,” “formative cells or cell layer”. Otherwords that use the affix -blast include: mesoblast, odontoblast, spongioblast, statoblast, trophoblast