Standard Lemma guide

foraminifer

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌfɒɹəˈmɪnɪfə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌfɔɹəˈmɪnəfɚ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a large group of aquatic amoeboid protists of the subphylum Foraminifera, characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm that among other things is used for catching food, often with a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foram, foraminifera, foraminiferan, foraminiferid, foraminiferon, foraminiferum

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

marine microorganism having a calcareous shell with openings where pseudopods protrude

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foram

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: rhizopod, rhizopodan

Narrower terms: globigerina, nummulite

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French foraminifère (“foraminifer, foraminifera”), from French Foraminifères, coined by the French naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny (1802–1857) in an 1826 article. By surface analysis, Latin forāmen (“apertures, holes”, stem foramin-) + -fer (“bearing”).

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: foraminifero — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Belarusian: фарамініферы (faraminifjery) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Bulgarian: фораминифери (foraminiferi) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Chinese Mandarin: 有孔蟲 /有孔虫 (yǒukǒngchóng) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Czech: dírkonošec — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Czech: dírkonožec — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Esperanto: foraminifero — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Finnish: huokoseläin — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • French: foraminifère — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • German: Foraminifere — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Italian: foraminifero — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Japanese: 有孔虫 (yūkōchū) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Korean: 유공충 (yugongchung) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Korean: 유공충아문 (yugongchung'amun) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Portuguese: foraminífero — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Romanian: foraminifer — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Russian: фораминифе́ра (foraminiféra) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Russian: ды́рочник (dýročnik) — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Spanish: foraminífero — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera
  • Turkish: foraminifer — aquatic amoeboid protist of the subphylum Foraminifera