Word.ws English Dictionary

nauplii

Syllables: nau·pliiUK/ˈnɔːplɪaɪ/US/ˈnɔpliˌaɪ/

nauplii is the plural of nauplius.

Meaning of nauplius

Noun

nauplius (plural nauplii or naupliuses)

  1. A crustacean larva that has three pairs of locomotive organs (corresponding to antennules, antennae, and mandibles), a median eye, and little or no segmentation of the body.
    • The oval body, with the abdomen not yet differentiated, and bearing no limbs; the (usually) three pairs of limbs, representing the first and second antennæ and mandibles of the adult, together with the single eye, are the distinguishing characteristics of the nauplius stage.1870 November 16, A[lpheus] S[pring] Packard, “The Development of Limulus Polyphemus”, in Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Boston Society of Natural...

See all 3 meanings of nauplius

Questions about nauplii

What is nauplii the plural of?
Nauplii is the plural of nauplius.
How do you pronounce nauplii?
Nauplii is pronounced /ˈnɔːplɪaɪ/ (UK).

Words near nauplii in the dictionary

  1. naupathia
  2. naupathic
  3. Nauplia
  4. nauplial
  5. naupliar
  6. nauplii
  7. naupliiform
  8. nauplioid
  9. nauplius
  10. naupliuses
  11. naur

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nauplii (page history and authors); nauplius (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.

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