Meanings
plural protists
- biologyAny of the eukaryotic, usually unicellular organisms—including protozoans, slime molds and some algae—historically grouped into the kingdom Protista (or Protoctista), now distributed over several clades; any eukaryote that is not a plant, animal or fungus.
Besides the hundreds or thousands of metres of fungal mycelium in a teaspoon of healthy soil, there are more bacteria, protists, insects and arthropods than the number of humans who have ever lived on Earth.
2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 162Synonyms: protistan
- biologyAny single-celled eukaryote, prokaryote or sponge .First known use to 1959
Synonyms: protistan
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny of the eukaryotic, usually unicellular organisms—including protozoans, slime molds and some algae—historically grouped into the kingdom Protista (or Protoctista), now distributed over several clades; any eukaryote that is not a plant, animal or fungus.
nounAny single-celled eukaryote, prokaryote or sponge .
nounAny single-celled eukaryote or prokaryote .
nounAny single-celled eukaryote .
More synonyms by meaning
nounfree-living or colonial organisms with diverse nutritional and reproductive modes
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπρώτιστος
- translingualProtista
- Englishprotist
From translingual Protista, from Ancient Greek πρώτιστος (prṓtistos).
More words from translingual, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian протист
- протист (protist)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Chinese Mandarin 原生生物
- 原生生物 (yuánshēng shēngwù)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Czech protista
- protistaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Danish protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Dutch protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Esperanto protisto
- protistoeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Estonian protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Finnish alkueliö, protisti
- alkueliöeukaryotic unicellular organisms
- protistieukaryotic unicellular organisms
- protoktistieukaryotic unicellular organisms
French protiste
- protisteeukaryotic unicellular organisms
German Protist
- Protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Hungarian protiszta
- protisztaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Icelandic frumvera
- frumveraeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Irish prótaisteach
- prótaisteacheukaryotic unicellular organisms
Italian protista
- protistaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Japanese 原生生物
- 原生生物 (gensei seibutsu)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Korean 원생생물
- 원생생물 (wonsaengsaengmul)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Polish protista
- protistaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Portuguese protista
- protistaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Romanian protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Russian проти́ст
- проти́ст (protíst)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Spanish protista
- protistaeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Swedish protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Turkish protist
- protisteukaryotic unicellular organisms
Ukrainian найпростіш
- найпростіш (najprostiš)eukaryotic unicellular organisms
Vietnamese sinh vật đơn bào
- sinh vật đơn bàoeukaryotic unicellular organisms
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
protist. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protist
“protist.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protist. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “protist,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/protist.
Source: protist on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.