plankton: [19] The ultimate source of plankton is Greek plázein ‘hit’, a descendant of the same base as produced English apoplexy, plague, and plectrum. The link between these two unlikelysounding relatives is that something that is hit moves or wanders, and plankton are minute organisms that wander or drift in the ocean. The Greek derivative plagtón meant ‘wanderer’, and the application to ‘plankton’ was first made in German in the 1880s. => plague
plankton (n.)
1891, from German Plankton (1887), coined by German physiologist Viktor Hensen (1835-1924) from Greek plankton, neuter of planktos "wandering, drifting," verbal adjective from plazesthai "to wander, drift," from plazein "to drive astray," from PIE root *plak- (2) "to strike, hit" (see plague (n.)). Related: Planktonic.
实用例句
1. The first organisms that reproduced sexually were free-floating plankton.
最早开始有性繁殖的生物是四处漂浮的浮游生物。来自柯林斯例句
2. The fish live on the plankton.
这种鱼靠吃浮游生物为生。来自柯林斯例句
3. Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.
浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层.来自《简明英汉词典》
4. Diatoms and other tiny organisms form Antarctic plankton.
