nurdle

American  

[nurd-uhl] / ˈnɜrd əl /

noun

plural

nurdles

1. a tiny ball or pellet of unprocessed plastic, especially in the context of water or shoreline pollution.

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verb

1. Cricket. to hit (the ball) gently into areas of the field not occupied by the fielding team, typically as a way of earning single runs.

verb (used without object)

nurdled, nurdling

1. to ramble musingly or speculatively on a particular topic, especially a topic one is relatively ignorant about.

Explanation

A nurdle is a tiny round pellet used in plastic production. It takes a lot of nurdles to make a plastic water bottle. It takes about 600 little plastic pellets to make one disposable water bottle, to be exact. That's a lot of nurdles! When you hear people talk about "microplastics" in the ocean, they're often referring to nurdles. These building blocks of plastic production are also what's left over when these products break down, and they're a major source of pollution. We know nurdle was coined in the 1990s, but otherwise its etymology is a mystery.

Example Sentences

A lot of New Orleanians have asked how to join a nurdle cleanup effort.

From Washington Times • Aug. 29, 2020

Volunteer nurdle hunters on the Great Winter Nurdle Hunt searched their local shorelines in early February and the survey has found that 73% of 279 shorelines contain the plastics.

From BBC • Feb. 17, 2017

I fear we’ll nurdle to a 400 lead and run out of time tomorrow.”

From The Guardian • Dec. 29, 2015

Colgate asked the court to declare that its "Triple Action" phrase and nurdle are not confusingly similar to Glaxo's "Triple Protection" phrase and nurdle design in other colors.

From Reuters • Jul. 29, 2010

Pattiaratchi said it was probably the worst nurdle spill in Sri Lanka’s history.

From Washington Post