plankton
[plangk-tuh n]
- the aggregate of passively floating, drifting, or somewhat motile organisms occurring in a body of water, primarily comprising microscopic algae and protozoa.
Show More
Origin of plankton
1890–95; < German, special use of neuter of Greek planktós drifting, equivalent to plang-, variant stem of plázesthai to drift, roam, wander + -tos verbid suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for plankton
Contemporary Examples
Jellyfish eat the eggs and larvae of other species higher on the food chain, as well as the plankton that those larvae would eat.
Plankton, those wily producers of every second breath of oxygen you breath, will be naked and vulnerable.
Historical Examples
Many of the luminous marine animals are to be found in the plankton, while the littoral luminous forms are in the minority.
The Nature of Animal LightE. Newton Harvey
Both fish and plankton are consumed by humpback whales as well as by other predators.
Humpback Whales in Glacier Bay National Monument, AlaskaUnited States Department of Commerce, Marine Mammal Commission
By autumn, plankton concentrations diminish as light and nutrient levels decrease.
Humpback Whales in Glacier Bay National Monument, AlaskaUnited States Department of Commerce, Marine Mammal Commission
The plankton (small floating animals) is distributed in the morning, other animals as required.
The same method is followed by the pretty radiolaria which live floating (as plankton) at various depths of the sea.
The Wonders of LifeErnst Haeckel
plankton
- the organisms inhabiting the surface layer of a sea or lake, consisting of small drifting plants and animals, such as diatomsCompare nekton
Show More
Word Origin
C19: via German from Greek planktos wandering, from plazesthai to roam
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for plankton
n.
1891, from German Plankton (1887), coined by German physiologist Viktor Hensen (1835-1924) from Greek plankton, neuter of planktos "wandering, drifting," verbal adjective from plazesthai "to wander, drift," from plazein "to drive astray," from PIE root *plak- (2) "to strike, hit" (see plague (n.)). Related: Planktonic.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
plankton
[plăngk′tən]
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.