\Tri*chi"na\ (-n[.a]), n.; pl. {Trichin[ae]}. [NL., fr.
Gr. ? hairy, made of hair, fr. tri`x, tricho`s, hair.]
(Zo["o]l.)
A small, slender nematoid worm ({Trichina spiralis}) which,
in the larval state, is parasitic, often in immense numbers,
in the voluntary muscles of man, the hog, and many other
animals. When insufficiently cooked meat containing the
larv[ae] is swallowed by man, they are liberated and rapidly
become adult, pair, and the ovoviviparous females produce in
a short time large numbers of young which find their way into
the muscles, either directly, or indirectly by means of the
blood. Their presence in the muscles and the intestines in
large numbers produces trichinosis.