Meanings
plural copepods
- Any of very many small crustaceans of the subclass Copepoda; they are widely distributed and ecologically important.
To eat, the whale takes a wide-open gulp of water and closes its jaws to a slit so that as it pushes its tongue forwards and upwards, water is forced through the baleen while the copepods, krill and other animals it likes to eat remain in its mouth.
2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 270
Synonyms & antonyms
nounminute marine or freshwater crustaceans usually having six pairs of limbs on the thorax; some abundant in plankton and others parasitic on fish
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- taxonomic nameCopepoda
- taxonomic nameCopepoda
- Englishcopepod
Learned borrowing from taxonomic name Copepoda.
More words from taxonomic name
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 橈足 /桡足
- 橈足 /桡足 (ráozú)any of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Finnish hankajalkainen
- hankajalkainenany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
French copépode
- copépodeany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
German Ruderfußkrebs
- Ruderfußkrebsany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Greek κωπήποδο, κωπήποδα
- κωπήποδο (kopípodo)any of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
- κωπήποδα (kopípoda)any of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Hungarian evezőlábú rákok
- evezőlábú rákokany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Japanese 橈脚
- 橈脚 (kaiashi)any of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Polish widłonóg
- widłonógany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Portuguese copépode
- copépodeany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Romanian copepod
- copepodany of very many small crustaceans, of the subclass Copepoda
Cite this entry
copepod. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copepod
“copepod.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copepod. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “copepod,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/copepod.
Source: copepod on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.