kelp
/kɛlp/
kelp noun: any of several large brown algae seaweeds (especially of order Laminariales).
Noun (1)
kelp (countable and uncountable, plural kelps)
- Any of several large brown algae seaweeds (especially of order Laminariales).
- Underneath the area demarcated by the buoys, Ms Puckett plants kelp—a type of seaweed—on long ropes that resemble washing lines.2021 June 26, “Why New England is going wild for wet weeds”, in The Economist, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- oyster grass
- The calcined ashes of seaweed, formerly used in glass and iodine manufacture.
Verb
kelp (third-person singular simple present kelps, present participle kelping, simple past and past participle kelped)
- To gather kelp.
- Just before we reached Seward the pilot got a radio message that a fishing boat in Thumb Cove had some kelp […] Neither of us had ever kelped before but there wasn't much to it, and we started bringing in full boxes back to Eads' barge.2018, John Walter Sutherland, Resurrection Road, page 94
Noun (2)
kelp (plural kelps)
kelp meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Persian and Vietnamese
kelp in Tamil
- கடற்பாசி, உணவுக்கேற்றது, ஒருவகைக் கடற்பாசி, கடற்பூண்டு, மருத்துவ குணமும் நிறைந்தது, சாதாழைச்சாம்பல்
kelp in Urdu
- بحری کائی, دریائی گھاس
kelp in Persian
- large seaweed of order Laminariales
- کتانجک katānjak, اشنیه ošniye
kelp in Vietnamese
- large seaweed of order Laminariales
- tảo bẹ
Examples of kelp in a sentence
- The kelp specimen uses its haptera to anchor itself to the rocks.
- The melanosperms included the rockweeds and all kinds of kelp.
- The kelp has fouled the prop.
Synonyms of kelp
Forms of kelp
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | kelps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kelps |
| present participle | kelping |
| past participle | kelped |
| past | kelped |
Origin of kelp
Inherited from Middle English *kelpe, culpe, *kilpe (Early Modern English kilpe), of unclear origin, though the attested forms point to Old English *cylp, possibly from Proto-West Germanic *kulpi, from Proto-Germanic *kulpiz (“lump, boll”, referencing the airsacks of species such as bladderwrack and knotweed), potentially a substrate term connected to Latin globus (“globe”) and Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“clump”). If the above theory is accepted, cognate with Low German Kulp, Külp, Kulpe (“lump in the eye, ball, thick nose”), Norwegian Nynorsk kulp (“short tube”), and Swedish kulp (“stout person”); further compare Bavarian Kolpel (“lump of stone”), Icelandic kúlpa (“to protrude”), Low German kulpen, külpen (“to pile up”), Low German Kulpogen (“large eye”), and West Frisian kolpje (“to pout”).
From Middle English kelpe, kylpe, from Old Norse kilpr (“the handle of a vessel, loop”). Related to Old Norse kelpa (“otter trap”).
Words formed from kelp
Phrases with kelp
Words that rhyme with kelp
Questions about kelp
- What does kelp mean?
- Kelp means any of several large brown algae seaweeds (especially of order Laminariales).
- What is kelp in Tamil?
- Kelp in Tamil is கடற்பாசி, உணவுக்கேற்றது, ஒருவகைக் கடற்பாசி. See Kelp meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is kelp?
- Kelp can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kelp?
- Kelp is pronounced /kɛlp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of kelp?
- The plural of kelp is kelps.
Words near kelp in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kelp (page history and authors); kelp (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); kelp (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-kelp.wav.
Cite this entry: “kelp.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kelp. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.