[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/plankton/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [P](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/p/) / plankton

# plankton

noun (plankton — uncountable)

«plankton» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Plankton are tiny plants and animals that drift in the sea and in lakes, carried by the water; most are too small to see without a microscope. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#m1)
2. Plant plankton (phytoplankton) make food from sunlight and produce a large share of the oxygen we breathe; animal plankton (zooplankton) include tiny shrimps and baby fish. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#m2)

### In the lessons

In science lessons plankton come at the start of ocean food chains: plankton are eaten by small fish and krill, which are eaten by bigger fish, seals and penguins — and the biggest animal of all, the blue whale, eats mostly tiny krill. In environment lessons pupils learn that warming and polluted seas harm plankton. In a famous cartoon, Plankton is a tiny villain.

### Examples

- Plankton float in the ocean. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x1)
- Many whales feed on tiny plankton and krill. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x2)
- Plankton are at the bottom of the ocean food chain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x3)
- Phytoplankton make oxygen from sunlight. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x4)
- We looked at plankton under the microscope. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x5)
- The sea glowed at night because of special plankton. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x6)
- Small fish eat plankton, and bigger fish eat the small fish. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/#x7)

### Note

Uncountable in everyday use: «plankton», not «a plankton»; it can take a plural verb («plankton are») or singular («plankton is»). Plankton are not one species but many tiny living things. The word comes from Greek for «drifting».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «plankton» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plankton/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«plankton» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/plankton.html) on Mova free.