Word.ws English Dictionary

plankton

/ˈplæŋ(k).tən/

plankton noun: organisms, especially small and microscopic ones, that drift in water.

Noun

plankton (usually uncountable, plural planktons or plankton)

  1. (usually) Organisms, especially small and microscopic ones, that drift in water.
    • Whales feed on tiny plankton drifting in the ocean.
    • The lake water was full of microscopic plankton.
  2. (countable, usually) A plankter, any single organism that drifts in water.

plankton meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

plankton in Hindi

aquatic organism
प्लवक plavak

plankton in Tamil

மிதவைவாழி, அலைவாழி, கடல் நுண்மிதவை உயிர்த்தொகுதி, நுண்ணுயிர் மிதவைகள், மிதவை நுண்ணுயிர்கள், நீரிலலையுமுயிர்

plankton in Marathi

प्लँकटन, प्लँक्टन, प्लँक्टॉन

plankton in Urdu

aquatic organism
پیراکو pirākū
More languagesFewer languages
plankton in Bengali
পানিতে ভাসমান অণুজীব
plankton in Telugu
ప్లాంక్టన్
plankton in Malayalam
പ്ലാങ്ക്ടൺ, പ്ലാങ്ക്റ്റൺ, പ്ലാങ്ക്ടോൺ
plankton in Kannada
ಪ್ಲ್ಯಾಂಕ್ಟನ್, ಪ್ಲಾಂಕ್ಟನ್
plankton in Punjabi
ਪਲੈਂਕਟਨ, ਪਲਾਂਕਟਨ, ਪਲੈਨਕਟਨ
plankton in Gujarati
પ્લાન્કટોન, પ્લેંક્ટોન, પ્લેન્ક્ટોન
plankton in Odia
ପ୍ଲାଙ୍କଟନ୍, ପ୍ଲାଙ୍କଟନ
plankton in Sinhala
ප්ලවාංග
plankton in Nepali
प्लाङ्कटन, प्ल्याङ्कटन, प्लाङ्क्टन
plankton in Arabic
عَوَالِق ʕawāliq
plankton in Indonesian
plankton
plankton in Persian
پلانکتون plankton
plankton in Thai
แพลงก์ตอน plɛng-dtɔ̂n
plankton in Vietnamese
sinh vật phù du

Examples of plankton in a sentence

  • Aeroplankton are the atmospheric equivalent of oceanic plankton.
  • My students have worked in communities of freshwater plankton, marine fishes and intertidal algae and invertebrates.
  • Wakasagi are pelagic plankton feeders found in open lakes, streams and reservoirs.

All 17 example sentences with plankton

Forms of plankton

pluralplanktons
pluralplankton

Plural of plankton: planktons or plankton

Origin of plankton

Borrowed from German Plankton, coined by German zoologist and marine biologist Victor Hensen. By surface analysis, Ancient Greek πλαγκτός (planktós, “drifter”) + -on. Ultimately from Ancient Greek πλαγκτόν (planktón, “drifting”), neuter nominative of πλαγκτός (planktós), from πλάζομαι (plázomai, “to wander, drift”), from πλάζω (plázō, “to cause to wander, drive astray”). By surface analysis, plankt- + -on.

Words formed from plankton

Words that rhyme with plankton

Questions about plankton

What does plankton mean?
Plankton means organisms, especially small and microscopic ones, that drift in water.
What is plankton in Hindi?
Plankton in Hindi is प्लवक (plavak). See Plankton meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is plankton?
Plankton is a noun.
How do you pronounce plankton?
Plankton is pronounced /ˈplæŋ(k).tən/.
What is the plural of plankton?
The plural of plankton is planktons.

Words near plankton in the dictionary

  1. planktocyclin
  2. planktological
  3. planktologist
  4. planktologists
  5. planktology
  6. plankton
  7. planktonic
  8. planktonically
  9. planktonicly
  10. planktonivore
  11. planktonivores

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plankton (page history and authors); plankton (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plankton (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plankton (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); plankton (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plankton (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-plankton.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-plankton.wav.

Cite this entry: “plankton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plankton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.