Contextualizebeta

plankton

noun
/ˈplæŋ(k).tən/

Etymology

Borrowed from German Plankton, coined by German zoologist and marine biologist Victor Hensen. By surface analysis, Ancient Greek πλαγκτός (planktós, “drifter”) + -on. Ultimately from Ancient Greek πλαγκτόν (planktón, “drifting”), neuter nominative of πλαγκτός (planktós), from πλάζομαι (plázomai, “to wander, drift”), from πλάζω (plázō, “to cause to wander, drive astray”). By surface analysis, plankt- + -on.

  1. derived from πλαγκτόν
  2. borrowed from Plankton

Definitions

  1. Organisms, especially small and microscopic ones, that drift in water.

    • Whales feed on tiny plankton drifting in the ocean.
    • The lake water was full of microscopic plankton.
    • The study focused on the role of plankton in the food chain.

  2. A plankter, any single organism that drifts in water.

The neighborhood

Derived

aeroplankton, archaeoplankton, bacterioplankton, bathyplankton, epiplankton, euplankton, femtoplankton, geoplankton, haliplankton, holoplankton, ichthyoplankton, jellyplankton, limnoplankton, macroplankton, megaplankton, meroplankton, mesoplankton, microplankton, mixoplankton, mycoplankton, nanoplankton, nektoplankton, nonplankton, office plankton, paleoplankton, phytoplankton, picoplankton, planktivore, planktivorous, planktonic, planktonivore, planktonivory, planktonology, planktonophagous, potamoplankton, protozooplankton, pseudoplankton, tychoplankton, ultraplankton, zooplankton

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for plankton. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA