hyperaccumulator

noun

Any plant that can accumulate large quantities of trace elements from its environment, and thus may be used in phytoremediation or phytomining.

Scrabble 30

Meanings

nounhyperaccumulator (plural hyperaccumulators)

plural hyperaccumulators

  1. biologyAny plant that can accumulate large quantities of trace elements from its environment, and thus may be used in phytoremediation or phytomining.

    Also, the progress of constructing ideal hyperaccumulators by using biological technologies is slow.

    2008, M. N. V. Prasad, Trace Elements as Contaminants and Nutrients, page 72
    2 more examples

    Hyperaccumulator species are able to accumulate higher metal concentrations in their shoots than surrounding nonaccumulator plants, even from soils containing nonphytotoxic background levels of metals [35-37].

    2000, Donald L. Wise, Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils, page 735

    To date, over 400 species have been identified as hyperaccumulators, with this number increasing continuously as new species are identified (Baker et al., 2000).

    2010, Peter M. Kopittke, Enzo Lombi, Neal W. Menzies, Ravi Naidu, “21: Principles of Plant-based Remediation of Contaminated Soils”, in Bharat P. Singh, editor, Industrial Crops and Uses, page 448

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Hellenic*hupér
  4. Ancient Greekῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér)
  5. Ancient Greekῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)
  6. Englishhyper-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  8. Proto-Italic*ad
  9. Proto-Italic*ad-
  10. Latinad-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*ḱuh₁mósder.?
  13. Latincumulus
  14. Latincumulō
  15. Latinaccumulō
  16. Latinaccumulātor
  17. Englishaccumulator
  18. Englishhyperaccumulator

From hyper- + accumulator.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hyperaccumulator. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperaccumulator

MLA

“hyperaccumulator.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperaccumulator. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hyperaccumulator,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperaccumulator.

Source: hyperaccumulator on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.