Standard Lemma guide

plankter

noun · 1 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: /ˈplæŋ(k)tə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈplæŋ(k)təɹ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A single organism of plankton.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: plankton

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from German Plankter, from Koine Greek πλαγκτήρ (planktḗr, “wanderer; one who leads another astray, beguiler”), modelled after German Plankton (“plankton”). Πλαγκτήρ (Planktḗr) is derived from Ancient Greek πλάζομαι (plázomai) (the mediopassive of πλᾰ́ζω (plắzō, “to turn away from (something); to roam, wander”)) + -τήρ (-tḗr, suffix forming masculine agent nouns from verbs). By surface analysis, plankt- + -er.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: planktoneliö — single organism of plankton
  • German: Plankter — single organism of plankton
  • Urdu: پیراکیا (pirākiyā) — single organism of plankton