Standard Lemma guide

nekton

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.

  • CMU ARPABET: N EH1 K T AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

All organisms in the ocean that are capable of swimming independently of currents.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the aggregate of actively swimming animals in a body of water ranging from microscopic organisms to whales

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: organism, being

History

Etymology

From German Nekton which was coined in 1890 by Ernst Haeckel. By surface analysis, Ancient Greek νηκτός (nēktós, “swimming”) + -on.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: nektoni — organisms in the ocean
  • French: necton — organisms in the ocean
  • German: Nekton — organisms in the ocean
  • Hindi: तरणक (tarṇak) — organisms in the ocean
  • Italian: necton — organisms in the ocean
  • Portuguese: nécton — organisms in the ocean
  • Spanish: necton — organisms in the ocean