plankton
pronunciation
How to pronounce plankton in British English:
UK [ˈplæŋktən]
How to pronounce plankton in American English:
US [ˈplæŋktən]
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- Noun:
- the aggregate of small plant and animal organisms that float or drift in great numbers in fresh or salt water
Word Origin
- plankton
- plankton: [19] The ultimate source of plankton is Greek plázein ‘hit’, a descendant of the same base as produced English apoplexy, plague, and plectrum. The link between these two unlikelysounding relatives is that something that is hit moves or wanders, and plankton are minute organisms that wander or drift in the ocean. The Greek derivative plagtón meant ‘wanderer’, and the application to ‘plankton’ was first made in German in the 1880s.=> plague
- 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.