ectomorph
/ˈɛktə(ʊ)mɔːf
/noun Physiology
A person with a lean and delicate build of body. Compare with endomorph and mesomorph.If you are now starting a fitness programme, it is a good idea for you to know what is your body type - mesomorph, ectomorph, endomorph, or a cross between two types....
- I was once a guest at a spa where we could avail ourselves of a ‘wellness expert’ who could customise a person's meals based on whether she was, say, a thyroidal mesomorph or an adrenal ectomorph.
- Still, extreme ectomorphs can't eat lean and clean and maximize mass.
Derivatives
ectomorphic
- If the Air Force wants an ectomorphic / mesomorphic force, so be it, but one day it may be hard to fill our manning boots without all our hard-working endomorphs.
- Negative descriptors such as ‘lonely’ and ‘depressed’ were assigned to the figure possessing the least muscular, or most ectomorphic, chest.
- She was taller than the redhead by an inch or two, being that she had the willowy yet graceful physique like that of a healthy ectomorphic body.
ectomorphy
- Taking into account the levels of tissue components in the men it was calculated that the levels of endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy in the female contestants amounted to 158%, 68% and 129% respectively.
- Those values in female patients were 159.2 cm, 47.8 kg, and 118.5, respectively, indicating that the male patients showed a higher degree of ectomorphy.
- But it will be difficult for those who have a high degree of ectomorphy to achieve a significant increase in their body weight.
Origin
1940s: ecto- from ectodermal (being the layer of the embryo giving rise to physical characteristics which predominate) + -morph.